


where flowers can’t bloom

by amybri2002



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Fainting, Fantasy AU, Fantasy Violence, Fighting, Illness, Implied homophobia, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic AU, Minor Character Death, Nonbinary!Patton, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, War, bad family relations, blood mention, demiboy!janus, discussions of religion, genderfluid!remus, i think that’s all the major ones but let me know if i need to add anything, injury mention, i’ll mention triggers at the starts of chapters as needed, janus is named declan, same with discussions of war ig bc that’s like the whole plot, with an exception to violence/injuries bc. the fic focuses a lot around that anyway.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 70
Words: 146,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25668349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amybri2002/pseuds/amybri2002
Summary: The war between the kingdoms of Silvales and Ignebris has gone for far too long, and the situation on the rest of the Continent is only getting worse. The Academy has trained magic users for centuries, bringing together people from all over the Continent to become a powerful force - it's only natural that they bring together a team of the most powerful magic users, to help finally bring Ignebris down.Roman and Remus, royalty from Silvales. Declan, a knight of Silvales. Patton, a healer from Lanamia. Logan, an academic from Nochae. And finally Virgil, a simple farm boy from Therba. Their task was simple - travel across the Continent to defeat yet another Dragon Witch, a task that they'd done so many times before.But when the past begins to catch up with them, and they run into even more problems on the Continent, will they be able to succeed in their mission? Or, perhaps, will they be able to do something more?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders
Comments: 45
Kudos: 67
Collections: Storytime! 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i’ve been waiting so long to post this oh my gods  
> this is my entry for the big bang! if y’all don’t know what that is, it’s basically a six-month-challenge where you have to write a fic at least 15k (i, uh, may have gone a little overboard), as well as artists creating artwork for said fics. i was partnered with @sanderssidesfanfiction on tumblr, whose art you can find here: https://sanderssidesfanfiction.tumblr.com/post/626807101579247616/here-it-is-the-art-i-did-for-gaylotusthatexists  
> i am. so goddamn excited to be sharing this with y’all. this is the longest thing i’ve ever written in my life, and honestly i’m. really quite proud of it haha, i really hope that y’all enjoy!!!

Virgil’s leg bounced up and down, a cloud of darkness forming at his feet. He could feel other students staring at him as they passed by, a hint of disgust in their glares, but he wouldn't give them the satisfaction of him going off. They _wanted_ him to go off. They wanted him to cause a scene, to start a fight, anything that could get him in trouble but let them go free. They wanted him gone, he knew that. 

Well, jokes on them, because he was getting out of here all by himself. Didn't need any of _them_ to get himself expelled, he was enough of an idiot that he could get in trouble without any of their help. 

Of course, he wasn't exactly sure _how_ he had gotten into trouble, but he must be in trouble if he got called to the headmasters office. Why else would he be here? Obviously he had fucked something up. 

This was probably for the better. He didn't fit in here. Everyone else's magic was nice, helpful, _good_. Not like his magic. Horrid. Destructive. 

"Evil," somebody sneered, as they passed by him. 

The dark cloud grew. Virgil pulled his hood up and focused on the floor, trying to will the darkness back inside him. That just made it worse. 

"Hey, kiddo, you okay?" a voice besides him asked. 

Virgil continued looking at the floor, and just said, "Yup," popping the 'p'. 

"I'm Patton," the voice said, holding out a hand. "I don't think we've met?" 

Virgil glanced up for a second, taking in as much of 'Patton' as possible before looking away again. They looked around his age, Virgil thought, with pastel pink hair and rosy cheeks, and flowers of every colour all over their body. They wore a blue polo shirt, with a light grey cardigan wrapped over their shoulders like a cape. A flowery patterned skirt spread out on the chair, reaching just above their knees. He politely took their hand for a second, quickly shaking it before withdrawing. Looking down at his palm, he noticed a couple flowers beginning to bloom onto his skin. He hoped that his darkness hadn't spread to the newcomer. 

There was a brief silence and, for a moment, Virgil thought Patton may have given up on him, before they spoke again. "What's your name?" 

Virgil tried his best not to groan, wanting to be as polite as possible - this person clearly didn't know who he was, and he wasn’t in the mood to make yet another enemy. "Virgil," he introduced. 

They gasped. "That name is beautiful!" 

"Uh, thanks, I think." He glanced up for a moment, to see Patton just beaming at him. He noticed that Patton's hand was shrouded slightly in darkness, and Virgil mentally cursed himself - he shouldn't have touched them, he _never_ touched anyone. 

Patton seemed to catch him staring. They glanced down at their hand as well. For a second, their smile faltered, but that bright look soon returned. "Hey, look! Your storm cloud thingy likes me!" 

Virgil blinked. Nobody had ever reacted that way to being infected by him before. 

"And look, my flowers like you!" Patton said, pointing to Virgil's own hand, still covered in tiny pink and blue daisies. "Don't worry," they quickly added, "they'll be gone soon. Unless you want them to stick around." 

Virgil stared at the flowers on his hand a moment longer. The petals slowly began to turn purple, and green stems grew out over his palm. The edge of his lips turned up in what could loosely be described as a smile, before he shoved that weird feeling of warmth back down inside him and shoved his hand away in his pocket. 

Glancing back over at Patton, he noticed that the cloud had already disappeared. 

"Ah, it's gone already," Patton said, sounding a little disappointed. "Well, probably for the best. Dark magic doesn't really mix well with nature magic." 

Virgil blinked. _Then why are you talking to me?_

"Huh? Why wouldn't I talk to you?" 

Oh. He hadn't realised that he had said that out loud. 

"Oh, uh-" 

"Ah, Virgil, Patton, you're here," another person said, walking over to the pair. Virgil looked up to see the headmaster and he immediately wished he was anywhere else. "Any sign of the others?" 

"The others?" Virgil repeated, barely above a whisper. 

Patton shook their head. "No. I think the twins were down by the forest earlier, though." 

The headmaster sighed. "Yes, I suppose they would be. Well, come on in," she said, beginning to walk back to her office. Patton quickly jumped up to follow her, whilst Virgil stalked a few metres behind, trying his best not to make eye contact with the other students in the hall, all still staring at him in disgust, or maybe... wonder. Confusion. Intrigue. 

Virgil tried to ignore all of that, instead losing himself in his thoughts. What was going on? Nobody had told him why he had been sent to the office but... a part of him was beginning to think it wasn't for the reason he thought. That was unlikely, of course, because why wouldn't he be getting expelled, he’d never done a single good thing in his life, but he didn't understand why Patton - and other people, apparently - would be here as well. 

Patton has mentioned 'the twins', right? Virgil didn't really know many people at the Academy, as he tended to keep himself to himself, but _everybody_ knew the twins - Roman and Remus. They were almost always together, always either bickering or taking on the world as one, with absolutely no in-between. They were princes, Virgil had heard. Roman was next in line to the thrown of his kingdom and there was rumours that Remus resented him for taking the thrown first. Virgil didn't buy that, though - the two seemed to get along fine, even if they had their rough days. He had siblings as well back home, he knew how it was. Well, kinda, his family wasn’t exactly… He tried not to think about it. 

"Take a seat, you two," the headmaster said. "We'll start when the others get here." 

Virgil stared blankly for a moment, not realising that they had made it into the office, before quickly taking a seat next to Patton. 

"Just talk amongst yourselves, I'm going to track down the rest." She exited the office, leaving the pair in silence. 

Feeling a little awkward, Virgil found himself looking around the office, taking in every little detail. The framed newspaper strips on the wall of students who had gone on to achieve great things (mostly from Divitunia, but Virgil tried not to focus on that), the papers stacked on the mahogany desk that seemed way too important to just be thrown anywhere like they were, the paintings of other headmasters throughout the years. He was tempted to stand up and walk over to the giant window, overlooking the field below, but held himself back, not wanting Patton to ask any questions. Virgil himself had never been in this office before, as he tried to stay quiet at the school, no matter how often people tried to get a rise out of him, but he supposed it wasn’t a terrible office, and the chairs were somewhat comfortable at least. 

After a few minutes, Patton spoke up. "So, you haven't been called before, have you?" 

Virgil frowned. 

"I mean, you're not usually here." 

Virgil blinked. "Well, yeah, I'm not usually being expelled, I don't really know what-" 

"Expelled?" Patton repeated. 

"...yeah?" 

"You think you're being expelled?" 

"Why else would I be here?" 

"Kiddo-" 

The door swung open and in strolled another student Virgil didn't recognise. They wore a yellow shirt and black suit, with a little green bow tie tied around their neck. Their bleached blonde hair, slightly lighter nearer the end, went down to their shoulder and was covered by a black beanie, which didn't really go with the formal attire they were otherwise wearing. One eye was green whilst the other eye was yellow, but the strangest part of their appearance was the green scales down one side of their face. 

"Good afternoon," they said, making their way towards the pair. "It's lovely to see you, Patton. And you- I don't believe we've met." They presented a gloved hand, seemingly waiting for Virgil to kiss it - he didn't. 

"This is Virgil," Patton introduced. The newcomer stared at Virgil for a second longer, looking kind of annoyed, before withdrawing their hand and sitting on the other side of the room. "Virgil, this is Declan." 

Virgil gave them a small wave. 

"Wow, you're a talker," Declan said, rolling their eyes. "Who is this guy?" 

Patton shrugged. "I mean, the headmaster called him in here, so I guess he's joining us." 

Virgil was so confused. 

And then another person walked in, his head stuck in a book. His skin was bright blue, and decorated with stars, some with lines joining up to form constellations, which Virgil guessed the guy had drawn on himself. His hair was also blue, a couple shades darker, with a single plait down his left side. He had a pair of thick-rimmed glasses and was wearing a shirt and tie - possibly the only person in the whole school wearing an actual _tie_ \- and a galaxy-printed skirt teaching down to his ankles, open at the front. He sat down next to Declan, crossing one leg over the other, and didn’t even acknowledge Virgil's presence until quite a while later. 

"Oh, you're new," he said, finally looking up from his book. He squinted. "Uh, Virgil, is it?" 

Virgil blinked. "How did you-" 

"He knows everyone," Patton said, leaning in closer to whisper. "Even if he hasn't spoken to them. He listens to people, let's just say. Logan is kind of a genius, actually." 

He would be lying if he said he didn't think that was a little weird, but Virgil nodded anyway. "Okay, sure." 

"Will Virgil be joining us?" Logan asked, addressing Patton. 

Patton nodded. "Yeah, I think so!" 

Logan hummed, now looking at Virgil. "So, what can you do?" 

"What?" Virgil responded, taken aback. 

"I mean your powers," Logan clarified. "What are they? You must be powerful if you've been invited here." 

"I- I don't-" His cloud grew larger around his ankles. 

"Oh, yes, of course, the cloud," Logan stated, glancing down at Virgil's feet. "I've heard talk of it but never seen it for myself. It looks fascinating, though. Would you mind telling me how it works?" 

"I mean..." Virgil blinked. "It's just kinda... there." 

Logan hummed. "But surely you can control it, correct?" 

It grew larger. "Well, I..." 

"Stop asking Virgil so many questions, Logan," Patton chided, although he sounded too happy to be taken seriously. "You'll have plenty of time to understand his powers later." 

Logan sighed. "Yes, of course. My apologises, Virgil, if my questioning made you uncomfortable in any way." 

"It's fine, don't worry." His cloud shrunk again, moving back inside him. "So... you're Logan?" 

Logan nodded in confirmation. 

Virgil gave him a small smile, before turning back to Patton. "So, uh, could you maybe-" 

The door swung upon once again and this time two people entered - two people that Virgil actually knew. The twins. They were Satyrs, Virgil was pretty sure, from the Kingdom of Silvales. And though they looked fairly similar, with the same sharp nose and deeply tanned skin, it was easy to pick up differences between them. 

Roman's brown horns were buried in his fiery red hair, perfectly kept with not a single strand out of place. Meanwhile, Remus' green horns were sticking out of her naturally black hair, tied in a ponytail and dyed green at the ends. Roman wore fairly formal clothing, though not in the same way Logan did - more... princely attire, Virgil supposed. Remus, however, seemed to care less about how she looked, sporting a simple off the shoulder green jumper with a tank top underneath, visible via the straps. However, it was easy to tell that they were twins just by looking at their near-identical faces, save for the few strands of hair that served as Remus' moustache. 

Whilst Remus quickly went to take a seat between Logan and Declan, noticeably closer to Logan, Roman turned to Virgil. "Who is this?" 

Virgil sighed. He was beginning to get sick of all these introductions. “Virgil.” 

Roman frowned. "Virgil. Never heard of you." 

He shrugged. "Yeah, I wouldn't have expected you to." He cleared his throat. "But, uh, you're Roman, right? Or Prince Roman?" 

"Roman is fine," he said. "And this is my twin, Remus, though I'm assuming you know." 

"Yeah, I did," Virgil said. "But thanks." 

Roman shot a quick, probably fake smile at Virgil, and then went and sat in Declan's lap, wrapping his arms around their shoulder whilst Declan's hand instinctively reached down around Roman's waist. Everybody ignored this, seemingly used to it. 

"So, is the headmaster on her way?" Logan inquired. 

"She had some lower years to deal with," Remus said. "They've probably killed her by now." 

Logan closed his eyes and sighed. "Remus, we've talked about this. The lower years aren't capable of murder." 

"That's what they want you to think." 

"She'll be here soon," Roman announced, now running his fingers through Declan's hair. In response, Declan curled up closer to Roman's chest, their scales changing from green to pink for a brief second before settling to their natural green again. 

As if on cue, the door opened and in stepped the headmaster. 

"So," she said, clapping her hands together. "I'm sure you're all wondering why you were called here." 


	2. Chapter 2

It was a Sunday afternoon and Virgil was sat in his dormitory, trying his best not to freak out. On Friday, he had been invited to some sort of... weird adventure troupe, or something. Apparently they went on a lot of journeys around the continent, keeping evil at bay and all that jazz. And there was this new evil guy, who needed keeping at bay, and _apparently_ they needed Virgil's help to do that. Why? He didn't know. He couldn't say he was too happy about it. 

After the meeting with the headmaster and the others, Virgil had immediately fled to his room and tried his best to avoid them for the next couple days, not wanting to be asked any questions. Most of them didn't seem all to keen on Virgil joining, particularly that Prince Roman fella and his boyfriend. He didn't really blame any of them - this was their thing, or whatever, and Virgil was intruding on it. Again, he _didn't want to join them_. 

Some seemed fairly happy at his presence, though. Patton was nice, and Logan seemed... at the very least intrigued. Which Virgil guessed was better than Logan absolutely hating him. 

Whatever. It wasn't as if Virgil could just back out. He was supposed to be leaving first thing tomorrow morning, meaning most of Sunday's activities would consist of preparing for the journey. Not that Virgil really needed to prepare anything. He didn't have much in terms of personal possessions, asides from his hoodie and his mother's necklace which he wore all the time anyway, and everything else was to be provided by the Academy. There were some inns along the way, Virgil was pretty sure, but he assumed most nights they'd be roughing out in camps or the like. And in terms of food... well, they'd be provided with some rations to begin with, and some money to buy more rations further down the trip, and nature was filled with natural food anyway. 

He supposed the only thing he had left to prepare was himself. He decided to head down into the forest to practise his magic for a while, knowing he'd need to keep it under control for the journey, which was sometimes difficult for him. It was only mid spring, so not too hot outside that he was sweating in his hoodie, thank God. The forest was usually quiet on a Sunday afternoon, as well, since most students took the time to just relax after the hard week of school. 

There was a lot to do at the Academy. It was an exclusive school for people born with extraordinary magic, in order to teach them how to use and control it. Most people on the continent had at least a small amount of magic, but the school would only allow the most powerful people to join. Apparently, Virgil was on the upper level of 'powerful people'. 

People came to the Academy from all over the continent - this was perhaps the only place where people from every single Kingdom would gather together (asides from those from Ignebris, but that was a given). This resulted in a vast amount of very different people, from nature spirits to regular humans and everything in between. Virgil himself was from the lower part of the continent, a simple farming kingdom who couldn't have seen him more happy to go. That was another thing - the Academy tended to accept any magic user that had nowhere else to be, for whatever reason that may be. 

Virgil... didn't exactly _have_ to leave his hometown, but it was easy to tell he wasn't welcome there. Everybody was terrified of him there, which he didn't really blame them for. Occasionally his power would get out of control and kill some crops, and Virgil had found himself in deep trouble on multiple occasions for that. Most people in his village didn't have a whole lot of magic, being mostly human, but they could usually heal whatever Virgil managed to break. Eventually they must have grown tired, though, of fixing Virgil's mistakes. 

Even his family looked down on him. They thought he was trouble, that he was doing everything just to be horrible, which couldn't be further from the truth. It wasn't his fault he was born with dark magic. He never asked for a cloud of shadow to follow him around wherever he went. 

So when he got his letter of invitation to the Academy, he couldn't have been more excited. Finally, a place where he could just exist as he was, without constantly being told that all he did was hurt others and cause trouble. Finally, a place that would accept his powers for what they were and help him to get a grip of them. 

Ha. If only he had known what the school was really like. 

The Academy itself was good, of course. Compared to his time back home, he had improved a lot in terms of controlling his magic, and even managed to figure out how to get rid of the cloud, at least for a brief period of time. The students, however... well, they weren't too different from the folks back home. Which was understandable, Virgil supposed, but he had to admit that it hurt a little. 

He was fine, though. It was better than being back home, where people he knew and cared about were afraid of him. At least here, only strangers are afraid of him. At least here, the people he loved most of all didn't look at him in disgust. 

Virgil reached the forest and walked further in, until he reached an empty clearing. He sat down cross-legged on the grass and closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind so that all that remained was the darkness. He felt cold rise around him and he was shrouded in shadow. Breathing in and out through his nose, he tried to hold the cloud there, consuming his entire body. His hands fell into his lap and he opened his eyes. Not that that really made a difference, since he was still surrounded by darkness. But then the cloud fell back to the floor, and across from him on the other side of the clearing he spotted Patton. 

Patton was staring at him, their jaw open wide. "Did you-" 

Virgil quickly stood up. "Sorry, I didn't realise you were here," he quickly said, already beginning to leave the clearing. 

"No, wait!" Patton called. Virgil stopped and turned to face them, looking them up and down. They looked pretty much the same as when he saw them the day before, that same bright smile and kind expression, except their shorter skirt had been replaced with a long, flowing dress, silky fabric flapping around in the light breeze. They didn’t look angry at Virgil, or scared, or… anything bad. Really. They just looked… intrigued? "It's okay. I was just talking a walk and saw the cloud. You can carry on, if you want." 

Virgil blinked in surprise. Usually when he was doing his thing and people saw, they would immediately go off on him. But not Patton. 

Patton frowned at Virgil's puzzled expression. "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," Virgil said, choking on his words a bit. "Just... People don't usually like it when I do that." 

"Do what?" 

"Y'know." He lifted a finger and his cloud stretched to cover his body for a second, before putting his finger down again and letting the cloud drop. "The thing." 

"They... don't like you using your magic?" Patton asked, sounding genuinely confused which just made Virgil even more confused. 

"Yeah, exactly." He approached Patton. "I mean, I don't blame them. By all accounts I really should be a villain, or something." 

Patton shook their head. "No, you're not a villain. A villain uses dark magic to hurt people." 

"My dark magic _has_ hurt people," Virgil stated. "Not intentionally, of course, but... yeah, it makes sense for people to be scared. It's not easy to control." 

"You're not a villain," Patton reenforced. "A villain hurts people on purpose. Or doesn't think that what they are doing will hurt people. You're not evil, Virgil. A person's magic doesn't necessarily say anything about their character."

Virgil snorted. "That's easy for you to say. Isn't your magic just, like... flowers?" 

Patton sighed. "I mean, yeah, but that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. I've hurt people too, Virgil. Badly." 

"You?" Virgil said, surprised. "But you're..." 

Patton smiled. "Never on purpose, of course. But obviously my magic has a darker side, as well. Like..." 

They leant down and placed a hand on the ground, before lifting their arm up with flowers following. Then, they pushed forward, allowing the petals to shoot forward and cut straight through some reeds near a pond just beyond the clearing. A few bugs hidden in the reeds fluttered away. 

Patton turned back to Virgil, smiling sadly. "So, yeah, that could cut through skin if I really wanted it too. Which I don't, necessarily, but I have to know how to for all the danger we get ourselves into. I am technically just a healer, though." 

Virgil just stared in wonder. "I've never seen that kind of magic be used as a weapon before," he stated. 

"Well," Patton said, sitting down on the grass, their skirt spreading out over the ground, and motioning for Virgil to join them, "I think you'll see a lot of things you've never seen before on our journey." 

Virgil joined them, sitting down opposite them. "You think?" 

"It's a lot different out there than what we're used to in the Academy," Patton stated. "In the wild, I mean. Everywhere on the continent has different approaches to magic, y'know. And there's more than one way to teach it." 

Virgil hummed. "That makes sense, I suppose. Where I'm from, most people are afraid of magic." 

Patton frowned. "Do they not use magic?" 

"Eh." He sighed. "They use basic magic, I guess. But they aren't big on all that stuff. I was the only one who could really do anything like people do here. I guess... I guess they were more afraid of me." 

Virgil wasn't quite sure why all of a sudden he was comfortable sharing this with Patton, but he guessed that if he'd be spending a while with them anyway they'd found out eventually. It was just... Virgil never really spoke to anybody. He'd been at the Academy for so long now, without friends (asides from his dormmates, his supposed, but they were only really friends out of formality and probably hated him just as much as the rest of the school), and he hadn't told anybody about his time back home. His teachers had tried to speak to him a couple times, but that only ever led to Virgil getting agitated, which in turn led to them sending him away in fear of their own safety. 

"Where are you from?" Patton asked, flowers beginning to form at their feet. 

"Just a farming village down south," Virgil replied, simply, “in Therba." 

"Oh! We passed through that Kingdom last time!" Patton recalled. "It was nice. Sunny. Lots of fields." 

"Well, yeah, it's mostly a farming kingdom," Virgil muttered. 

Patton smiled. "Didn't really take you for a country boy, though." 

Virgil shrugged. "I mean, I'm not really. I've been living here since I was ten. That's, what... seven years?" 

"Do you not go home for summer?" 

"Nah." The cloud began to form again around his knees. "I'm not exactly welcome back in the village. They all couldn't have been happier to see me go. Don't really blame them, honestly." 

Patton looked a little sad at that. 

"So, uh, where are you from?" Virgil asked, eager to change the subject. 

"Oh, uh, Lanamia, in the Midlands. I grew up in a little village on the outskirts, near Dyra Meadows. I'd... assume you haven't visited Lanamia before, right?" 

"Yeah, no, I haven't," Virgil said. "I've seen paintings, though. It looks beautiful." 

Patton grew a bright smile. "It is! Gods, it's so beautiful there. _Especially_ in the summer. And pretty much everybody there uses magic, which is just even cooler. Just, flowers everywhere." They laughed, and Virgil chuckled along with them. 

"So, you guys just use magic? All the time?" 

"Yeah, basically." Patton smiled. Flowers were beginning to dance around their head. "There's a lot of powerful magic users in Lanamia. It's not unusual to see actual children just running around casting spells." 

Virgil glanced down at the floor for a second, noting that his cloud was growing larger by the second, but doing nothing about it. He knew that Patton didn't mind the cloud being there, so nothing could go wrong, right? 

"Are you okay?" Patton asked, a twinge of concern in their voice. 

Virgil's head shot back up. "Yeah, sorry. It's just... weird to think that some people can just casually use magic. Back home there always had to be a reason, and it was only ever used as a last resort." 

"Huh." Patton glanced down. Their eyes widened. "Hey, your cloud thing is befriending my flowers!" 

"It's what?" Virgil exclaimed, immediately standing up and attempting to bring the shadows with him. Most of the darkness either raised above Virgil's head or disappeared into the air around him, but a small clump stayed next the grass, the flowers slowly absorbing it. "Move away," he ordered Patton, "now!" 

"But-" 

"Seriously, move!" 

Patton stood up and stepped back. Their flowers sank back into the soil, taking some of the darkness with them but mostly escaping free from harm. Virgil sighed with relief. 

"Sorry," Virgil said. "I... usually have it under control." 

Patton frowned. "You don't need to be sorry. You weren't doing any harm." 

"I _would have_ , though." His magic always used to kill flowers, ever since he was a kid and didn't understand how his magic worked. Whenever it got too close to anything living, it would infect it and drain it and eventually kill it. And these flowers were tied to Patton, right? He... He hated to think what might have happened to Patton if their flowers had been fully infected. He didn't want to hurt anybody else. 

Patton looked at Virgil, their eyes glistening. "You weren't hurting me Virgil, I promise. You won't hurt me." 

_You don't know that._


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: talk of religion

Logan had his arm out on the table with a quill in his hand, connecting the stars along his skin in what could be constellations. Perhaps not constellations that had been found, not just yet, but certainly some that could exist. A lot of the Nochees life work focused around the stars and the planets, discovering new things about the world above, and Logan longed to join that once he was finished with school. Maybe he never would, if he continued with the whole adventuring business, but it was always something he could do in his spare time. 

The stars on his skin usually changed every few days, provided that there wasn't already any ink on them - he found that when he had been drawing, the ink often interfered with the changing patterns and ruined some of the stars, so he always tried to have clean skin when it was time for the stars to change. He never knew exactly when they would change, but he had got into a sort of routine to plan out the best time to remove the ink, which his close friend, Remus, was always more than happy to help with, considering they could sort of control the ink. 

As he drew, he silently prayed that one day one of these missions may take him home, at least for a little while. He had been at this school most of his life and didn't tend to go back to Nochae if he could avoid it, but, gods, he missed his home country. He missed the snow and the stars and the bright lights in the sky and the celebrations they'd have almost every week. He still tried his best to stay in touch with his gods here at the Academy, but with not many other Nochee people around and no proper place of worship, it was difficult. 

Maybe that's why he wanted to get home so badly. He felt out of touch, almost. He wanted to get back to the stars.

He looked down at his arm, analysing the constellation he had made. It looked like a flower, but jagged. Dying, almost. That didn't look great. Still, he made a mental note of the shape of the constellation, tucking it into a corner of his mind, then decided to continue his work. 

The library was quiet, which made sense, considering it was a Sunday afternoon. Not many students would study on a Sunday afternoon. That was why Logan often came to the library then - he could actually focus when it was this quiet. 

He began to open up a book, but then somebody sat across from him, and he sighed. 

"Hey, Logan," Remus said, already beginning to drape themself over the desk. 

Logan smiled in greeting. "Good afternoon, Remus." 

"I'm bored," Remus announced. 

Logan closed his eyes. "That doesn't really surprise me. Is Roman not around?" 

"He's ran off with Declan again," Remus told him. "Probably having another homoerotic sword fight on the sports field." 

"Ah," Logan said. "That would make sense." 

Remus gasped. "Hey! You've drawn a new thingy!" 

Logan frowned, before he realised they were referring to the constellation. "Oh, yeah, the stars changed this morning. I don't quite get what's going on in this one, though." 

"Lemme see!" Remus begged, leaning further over the table. 

Logan smiled fondly, before presenting his arm to Remus. "It's a flower, I think. Not sure what kind. But it looks kind of-

"I recognise that," Remus interrupted. "I swear, I've seen that before somewhere." 

Logan frowned. "Really? Where?" 

"I... I can't remember." Remus stared at it. "I've definitely seen it, though." 

"Do you think you'd be able to find it in a book?" Logan asked. 

Remus shook their head. "No, I don't think so. But..." They groaned. "Where do I remember that from?" 

Logan hummed. "Do you want to bring it out?" 

"No, not yet, leave it in for now until I remember," Remus said. "It's a symbol, I think. I used to know somebody who wore it, back home. I... I might have to talk to Roman about it."

Logan nodded. "That sounds reasonable. I'll keep it for now." 

Remus grinned. "Great!" As Logan withdrew his hand, they looked down. "What are you reading?" 

"I hadn't got around to starting to read yet," Logan admitted. "I found this book a couple weeks ago, though. It's written by my ancestors, about the Soul Stream back home." The Soul Stream was those colourful lights in the sky that came by every now and again, only ever seen in Nochae. Some people thought it was a message from their gods, reassuring the Nochees that they would be safe. Other people thought they were souls coming back from the dead, to see how their families were getting on without them. But there were very few people who thought the same as Logan - that there was something else going on, something real, something that could maybe explain what was going on in the world. His ancestors had studied the Soul Stream, and Logan wished to study it as well, once he was older and had more time. 

"The Soul Stream," Remus repeated. "You will take me to see that one day, right?" 

Logan laughed a little. "I mean, if you really want to. It's... beautiful, but Nochae isn't for everyone." 

"I want to see it," Remus said. "You love it so much, so it must be good, right?" 

"Of course it is, it’s brilliant," Logan said. "But that's probably just because of how much it means to my people. Many of us find comfort in it, thinking that it means there's some higher power looking over us, keeping us safe." 

Remus hummed. "Do you think that?" 

"Well." Logan shrugged. "I'd like to think that. I certainly like to think that the gods are watching over us. But whether or not the Soul Stream is connected to that, I don't know. I plan to find out, though." 

Remus looked up at Logan, staring into his eyes. Logan looked back, fixating on their glowing green eyes, feeling as though he might be pulled in. "You're homesick, aren't you?" they guessed. 

Logan sighed. "Yes, I suppose so. I... I do miss Nochae." 

"We should take a detour up there," Remus suggested. "Or even just visit after our mission." 

"It's not safe for all of you up there," Logan stated. "Too cold. You'd all freeze to death." 

"Worth it." 

Logan blinked. "No, not really." He glanced down. "I'll take you to Nochae one day, Remus. I promise." 

Remus sat back. "It can't be _that_ dangerous, surely," they said. "I mean, aren't we going through Denemuis?" 

"We are, but Denemuis is different. We have Declan, and should be safe in the underground tunnels," Logan said. "Nochae isn't so accessible. Besides, it's completely off route. It would take far too long, especially if you wanted to go see the Soul Stream..." 

Remus placed a hand on top of Logan’s. "Logan, it would still be worth it, even if it just made you a little happier. It doesn't have to be this trip. Maybe once everything is calmed down, we could go there together. Take some time off school. You deserve to see your home again." 

Logan turned his palm around and gripped Remus' hand, tight. "Thank you. I'll... I hope we can do that, one day. I want you to see Nochae, too." 

Remus smiled. "Hey, maybe you could pop round to Silvales after! I know you've been there before, but it might be nice, just the two of us!" They stopped. "Uh, I mean, unless we're inviting the others, of course, I-" 

Logan squeezed their hand, laughing a little. "It's fine, Remus. It can just be us two. We'd have a great time. The others can be a little... much, at times." 

"What, and I can't?" Remus asked, sounding kind of offended. 

"Oh, yes, of course you can," Logan said. "The difference is that I like you more. And you'll listen to me." 

Remus blinked. "The others... don't?" 

"Eh." Logan began fiddling with his tie. "They listen when they need to. Patton will listen sometimes as well, I guess, but they have a short attention span. Honestly, I'm not entirely convinced the other two even like me." 

"Hey, no!" Remus exclaimed. "The others think you're great! Roman thinks you're awesome, he just had a weird way of showing it..." 

"And Declan?" 

"Declan doesn't like anybody." 

"He likes Roman." 

"Roman is his _boyfriend_ , of course he likes Roman!" 

Logan sighed. "Yes, I... suppose so." 

"We'd all be lost with you though, Logan," Remus reassured him. "I'd certainly be dead, since you're about ninety percent of my impulse control..." 

Logan blew a huff of air out his nose. "You really need to stop running directly towards danger." 

"Roman and Declan always run into danger, though." 

"They're both skilled swordsmen. And they don't, either. Declan only ever has a fight if he knows he can win, and Roman... is Roman, but he usually only ever goes after Declan," Logan explained. He stood up. "Anyway, didn't Patton want us for dinner?" 

"Oh!" Remus stood up as well. "That's why I came in here." 

"Should we head off now?" Logan asked. 

Remus nodded. "Yeah, we probably should. Last I heard, Patton had gone off to find that new kid-" 

"Virgil," Logan reminded them. 

"Yes, Virgil," Remus continued. "We figured he should probably be there, since he's tagging along." The two began to walk out of the library. 

"Do we know why, yet?" Logan wondered. 

Remus shrugged. "I don't really know much about Virgil, apart from the fact people are afraid of him. I think he's quite powerful." 

"Yes, I heard that, too." Logan hummed. "I'd like to learn more about his magic. I've never seen anything like it before. Where is he from?" 

"No clue. He doesn't speak about it." 

"Huh." They had left the library now and were making their way down to the dinner hall, which would be a good ten minute walk. The school covered up most of the island, which made sense, considering it was the only magic-focused school on the whole continent, but with only a limited number of students, Logan often wondered why it needed to be so big. There couldn't have been more than a couple hundred students here - magic was dying, Logan thought. The Academy must have used to be busy all the time, with thousands of people attending, but there just weren't as many powerful magic users anymore. 

He guessed that had something to do with the current political climate over on the continent. The war between Silvales and Ignebris was only getting worse - some people from those kingdoms were being pulled out of school to fight, and many of the world's most powerful people have already died fighting. He supposed that they were technically being pulled out to fight, as well. Their mission was over in Ignebris, a task that may help Silvales win the war and stop the corruption in Ignebris, the corruption slowly spreading across the entire continent. 

There was also the problem that people just didn't use magic as much anymore. Particularly in places like Therba, who only very rarely used magic, if at all. Logan's powers specifically were always a bit off whenever he was in Therba, because he often had to draw on the magic around him, and there just wasn't enough there. He definitely wasn't looking forward to them cutting through Therba later, but it was the safest way to reach Ignebris, so it had to happen. 

"He's not from Silvales, is he?" Logan asked. "I know there are many different types of magic users there, but..." 

Remus shook their head. "Not Silvales. Too human.”

"Divitunia, then?" 

"Maybe. He'd probably fit in with them, if they didn't immediately label him as a criminal." 

Logan let out a short, sharp laugh. "I suppose so. I guess the best way to find out is to just ask him, though." 

Remus nodded. "Yeah. You're right." 

The two walked in a comfortable silence for the remainder of the trip to the dining hall, but Logan didn't stop thinking about Virgil, about who he was and why he was joining them. He had several theories circling his mind, but... Virgil had always been a mystery to him, and it didn't look like he'd figure it out any time soon.


	4. Chapter 4

Roman's sword clashed against Declan's, a smirk growing across his face. They glared back at him in that way that they always did, the way that made Roman just melt. 

He did, and Declan took the opportunity to knock Roman's sword out of his hand. It spun in the air for a few seconds before clanging on the ground a few metres away. As Roman watched it fall to the floor, he missed Declan rushing up in front of him, now holding his sword up to Roman's neck, only a couple millimetres away from his skin. But Roman didn't look scared. He never looked scared. Instead, he reached his hand up and gently pushed Declan's sword down, before leaning over and pecking them on the lips. 

Declan's scales turned bright red and their sword also fell to the floor. After composing themself enough that their scales were now only a light shade of pink, they cursed under their breath. "I really don't think that us training together is a good idea." 

"Hey!" Roman exclaimed. "We're good training partners! It's not my fault you're always so flippin' cute." 

They hissed at him. Roman just laughed. 

"You need to stop getting distracted," Declan stated, going to pick up their sword. "If you lose focus in the middle of a battle-" 

"You will come to my rescue and fight off the bad guys for me." 

"-you will get hurt, Roman," Declan finished, ignoring Roman's interruption. 

"I only get distracted because you're just standing there being adorable," Roman said, going to pick up his own sword and following his boyfriend back towards the Academy. 

Declan rolled their eyes. "I wasn't being adorable. I was threatening you." 

"Declan, you are the least threatening person that I know," Roman said, earning himself another glare from them. "See! Adorable." 

"You are the only person who thinks that's adorable." 

"I beg to differ." 

Declan pushed Roman’s arm, perhaps a little harder than they intended, and he stumbled to the side. Roman just laughed and moved closer to Declan, swinging his arm around their shoulder. They ducked down their head, clearly embarrassed, but Roman knew they loved it. 

"I am being serious, though," Declan said. "You need to stop getting distracted." 

"It's _your_ job to come and rescue me if I'm ever in trouble," Roman said. 

Declan sighed. "That doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to defend yourself. What if I'm not there?" 

"If you're not there, then I'll probably be the one trying to save you." 

"Incorrect." Declan shuffled closer to Roman. "If I'm in trouble, I get myself out. You do not put yourself in danger for me." 

"You can't stop me." 

Declan looked up at Roman, and Roman stared back into their eyes, one a vibrant green and the other a golden yellow. He really did love those eyes. And for a moment, it seemed as though Declan was about to stand taller and lean closer to Roman's lips, and Roman was so, so ready- 

Until they drew their sword again and jumped out of Roman's clutch. However, Roman was quick to draw his own sword, and, surprisingly, managed to knock Declan's sword right out of their hand. Their head turned to the side, their eyes locking on the steel. Roman was tempted to repeat Declan's move from earlier, but decided against it, not wanting to cause them any harm at all. 

Declan went to retrieve their sword, their scales turning yellow for a second before returning to their usual green. "Ah. So it seems you aren't totally useless." 

"Hey!" 

"You weren't even _fazed_ by that. I'm impressed." 

Now it was Roman's time to be embarrassed. 

Declan looked at him, smirking. "Gods, I love you." 

Roman's face melted into a smile. "I love you too, Declan." 

They joined hands and continued their journey back to the Academy, in a somewhat comfortable silence until they reached the dining hall. It was quiet today, which Roman hadn't really expected. But then again, it was a Sunday afternoon, and there were definitely better places to be than the dining hall. 

As Declan went to join the others at their usual table near the back, Roman went to the front to collect both of their meals, before heading to the table as well. He sat down between Declan and his twin, Remus, who was sat next to Logan. The table was circular, so they could all see each other fairly well. He did, however, notice the two empty seats between Declan and Logan, a place where there was usually only one seat. 

"Where's Pat?" Roman asked. 

"Not here yet," Logan stated. "I imagine they’re still trying to convince Virgil to come down." 

Ah, Virgil. That explained the extra chair. 

"Why is this Virgil-fella joining us anyway?" Roman asked. 

"We don't know," Logan and Remus said, simultaneously. 

"Well, that's helpful," Declan said, beginning to eat their food. 

Logan frowned. "Well, no, not really-" 

"If it's worth anything," Declan continued, "I overheard the headmaster talking about Virgil to one of the other teachers. I didn't hear the full conversation, but it sounds like he's powerful." 

"Well, yeah, obviously he's powerful," Remus chimed in. "Have you _seen_ him walking around school? His powers never seem to go away, and it's incredibly dangerous. I've seen him accidentally injure about ten different people-" 

"I heard he's from Ignebris," Roman said. "That's why people are afraid of him. And why they always call him evil and stuff." 

"I seriously doubt he's from Ignebris," Logan said. "I don't even think they'd allow him to attend the Academy if he was, let alone go on a quest." 

"If you think about it, though, it could explain why he's coming. We're heading to Ignebris, right? So it would make sense if he was coming along to help us get in," Roman suggested. 

"Roman, there are a multitude of different reasons Virgil could be joining, but I _seriously_ doubt that the reason it because he is one of the enemies." 

"The headmaster knows what she is doing," Declan said. 

Roman sighed. "Does she, though?" 

"The headmaster knows what she is doing," Declan repeated, more forcibly. 

"Hey, guys!" a fifth voice said. Roman's head shot up to see Patton, and he immediately started grinning. 

"Pat! Hi!" 

Patton smiled. "Hello, Roman. And Logan, Remus, Declan." He sat down next to Declan, allowing a sixth person to sit down next to Logan. "I got Virgil to come!" 

Virgil offered the group a small wave. 

"Perfect," Logan said. "Thank you for joining us, Virgil. We've been... well, we've been wanting to speak with you since Friday, actually." 

Virgil locked his eyes on the table. "Sorry. Uh, this is all kind of new to me." 

"Well, at least you're here now," Logan said. He looked over the table. "Now that all of us are here, we should go through the plan." 

"Oh, yes!" Patton propped their elbows up on the table, holding their head in their hands. "What are we doing this time?" 

Logan clapped his hands together. "The boat should take us straight to the docks in Aquantur. We'll be following the river to the east, there's an outpost we have to stop by to collect something on the way. Then we should reach Denemuis, which Declan should be able to get us into." 

Declan scowled. "Do we really have to go through there?" 

"It's the quickest and safest possible route, Declan." 

"We could easily go through Lanamia instead," Declan pointed out. 

"Oh, yeah, it's nice in Lanamia!" Roman said, backing his boyfriend up. "I do love it in Lanamia, we should go there instead-" 

"Both of you, shut up, we're not going to Lanamia. If we did, we'd have to go through Divitunia, which is facing all kinds of problems right now. Also, we have those supplies from Aquantur to drop off at a base there.” 

Declan sighed. "Alright. Fine. I'm assuming this means Therba after Denemuis." 

"Unfortunately, yes," Logan said. There was a collective groan from the rest of the table, save for Patton and Virgil. 

"What's wrong with Therba?" Virgil asked. "Like, I know it's a shithole, but it's not dangerous there." 

"We've all had one too many run-ins with the Crollox's there," Roman said. "And frankly, I'm fed up with the lack of magic there." 

"The Crollox's aren't dangerous," Virgil said. "The farmers use them to scare off trespassers. As long as you don't go near the fields, they won't do anything." 

Roman glanced at Logan, who was staring at Virgil with intrigue. Turning back to Virgil, Roman sighed. 

"And there's plenty of magic there, you just have to know where to find it. Most people do use magic, just in very small amounts and incredibly infrequently." Virgil tapped his fingers on the table. "Honestly, the only dangerous thing is the people. They'd happily burn us all at the stake if Divitunia would get off their back." 

Logan hummed. "How do you know all this?" 

"I grew up in Therba," Virgil replied, simply. 

"Ah. Therba. Why didn't we consider that?" he asked, addressing Remus more than anyone. 

Remus smirked. "You're actually from Therba?" 

"Yeah?" Virgil sank down in his chair. "I mean, the Academy probably raised me better, and Therba kinda sucked, but that's where I'm from." 

Huh. Maybe that was why he'd been recruited onto the team? To help them through Therba? Not that they couldn't all handle it themselves, of course. They'd been through Therba plenty of times before, however unsuccessfully. 

Logan looked at him, curiously. "If you're from Therba, though, how did your-"

"I don't know why I'm like this," Virgil interrupted. "I just am. It's kind of a problem, actually." 

Logan frowned. "How is it a problem?" 

Virgil was silent. 

"We should stop asking Virgil all these questions," Patton said, to which Virgil sighed with relief. "Logan, what's the plan after Therba?" 

Logan stopped staring at Virgil and addressed the rest of the table. "After Therba, we should reach Ignebris. Our destination is quite close within the border so this shouldn't be difficult, but again, Declan, we may need you to sneak us in." 

Declan nodded. "Got it." 

"We fight whoever's been causing trouble, maybe stick around if there is any more trouble around Ignebris, then return to the Academy." 

"Is it the Dragon Witch again?" Roman asked. 

"I'd imagine so." 

"Gods. How many times do we have to beat her before she takes the hint?" Roman groaned. 

Logan sighed. "Roman. It's not the same Dragon Witch each time. I believe that's just an alias." 

Roman frowned. "Then how come they all look exactly the same?" he asked, skeptically. 

"They don't. You just struggle with faces." 

Logan wasn't wrong and Roman hated him for it. 

"So, are we all clear on the plan?" Logan inquired. 

The table all collectively nodded. 

"Great." He stood up. "I'm going to head back to the library now." 

"Me too!" Remus shouted, also standing up and collecting theirs and Logan's now empty plates. The two left the dining hall. 

Roman looked over at Virgil, noticing that the table in front of him was empty. "Hey, Virgil, you haven't eaten anything?" 

"I'm not hungry," he claimed. 

"Nonsense." Roman picked an apple up off his own plate, and threw it at Virgil. 

A panicked look spread across Virgil's face as the apple flew towards him. He caught it in one hand, but upon contact the apple immediately turned black. He froze, perhaps afraid that the others were going to shout at him for it, but the others just looked at him, amazed. 

"How- How did you do that?" Roman asked, leaning over the table. 

Virgil put the apple down on the table, and it turned back to it's usual red. "I don't know. My... My powers affect plants weirdly. That's why I don't usually eat here." 

Roman frowned. "It's back to normal now, though." 

"On the outside, maybe." He closed his eyes. "I wouldn't eat that, if I were you. Wouldn't risk it." 

Patton picked up the apple, twisting it round in their fingers. It began to sprout black flowers all over the surface. Startled, Patton put it back down. 

For a moment, Virgil stared at the apple some more, before standing up. "I'm going back to my room. See you guys tomorrow." With that, he left before the others could even say goodbye. 

Roman looked around at the other two, concerned. "Should one of us following him?" 

"I'll go," Patton said, standing up and following Virgil out the building. 

That left Roman and Declan all alone. 

"Back to training?" Roman asked. 

Declan hummed. "Or we could just cuddle." 

"Oh, yes, definitely, we should do that." They stood up, and Roman led Declan back to his dorm, where the two planned to spend the rest of the night snuggled in Roman's bed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: bullying, misgendering

Patton stalked behind Virgil, following him back up to his dorm. They tried to keep a fair distance from him, as to give him some space before going to check on him. Dinner hadn't exactly gone great - at least, the _end_ of dinner hadn't gone great - and Patton just wanted to know that Virgil was okay. If they were going to be spending a significant amount of time on the road together, it was best that Virgil grew to trust Patton. 

Virgil was heading to the dorms on the opposite side of the school than Patton's dorms, so they were unfamiliar with the building having never gone inside before. None of the others were in these dorms, so Patton never would have had an excuse to go in. But the building was beautiful, of course, with faded red bricks and vibrant green ivy growing up the side. 

By the time that Patton reached the doors, Virgil had already made his way much further in, and they had lost him. Perfect. They glanced around, looking for any sign of where Virgil may have gone. There were stairs on either side of the lobby, and a door at the far end. They thought back to the layout of their own dorms, assuming it would be somewhat similar - the rooms were up the stairs, but there was no door at the back. Perhaps that door was just another exit, maybe to a garden or the like. 

Deciding the stairs were the best option, they looked over at each, opting to go to the staircase with the least amount of people surrounding it. They kept their eyes locked on the ground, refusing to take notice of any of the students gathered around, for fear that they may know them, or that they might be not so friendly. 

Patton was... well, they got along with most people at the school. They always had a happy face, and were happy enough to do tricks with their magic for the younger students, and happy enough to make flowers for the girls who always asked. But of course there was some people who didn't like them, and there wasn't much they could do about it, except to just- 

"Hey!" 

They froze. Ignoring these people apparently wasn't an option. 

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" he repeated, forcibly poking Patton's shoulder. 

Reluctantly, Patton turned around and plastered on a smile. "Sorry, did you say something?" 

"What are you doing in here?" 

"Well, you see, I go to this school-" 

"We don't like your kind around here." 

Patton sighed. They knew where he was going with this. "My kind?" 

"You Lanamia lot," he said, as if it was a bad thing. "Isn't your dorm on the other side of the campus?" 

"I think you'll find that anybody can go into any dorm in this school, as long as the people in said dorm agree to let them in," Patton said. 

He grabbed their shoulder and they began to lose that forced smile. "Well, I never said you could in." 

"I never said I was going to your dorm," Patton replied, their voice shaky. 

"Who's this?" another guy asked, coming up besides the first. 

"Some fairy from the other dorms." 

"Not a fairy," Patton said. 

"If she's a fairy, how come she doesn't have any wings?" the second person asked. 

"Not a girl, either," Patton added. 

They both seemed to ignore them. The first person said, "Not all fairies have wings. But she's from Lanamia. You can tell." 

"Actually, people from Lanamia present in all different ways, and whilst pastel is definitely _my_ preferred style, many of us-" 

"Shut it!" the first person shouted, digging his fingers deeper into Patton's shoulder. His hand was heating up, burning, and flames danced in his eyes. Patton was too afraid to do anything about it. 

The guy towered over them, his grip growing stronger with every passing second, but Patton was used to this by now. That didn't stop them from wincing in the pain, but they knew that it wouldn't be difficult to heal themself, and their clothes could soon be replaced. They just wished the guy would leave them alone. 

He pushed them against the wall, which Patton certainly wasn't expecting, causing their heart rate to increase rapidly. They tried to keep their breathing under control and to remain calm, in hopes that the guy would just give up and go away. His friends were gathering around now, and Patton tried to summon some flowers in attempt to at least distract them so they could get away, but it wasn't working. 

"Now, don't come in here again, understood?" 

"I was just-" 

He raised his fist and Patton shut up, bracing themself for impact, but it never came. Instead, a wall of darkness rose between the two of them, pushing the guy away from Patton. And Patton became blinded to what was going on on the other side of the wall, but they could hear shouting and fighting, and they could hear... That was Virgil's voice, Virgil's darkness, right? Virgil had saved them. 

Eventually the wall lowered, and all Patton saw on the other side was Virgil. A smile broke out on their face, a real one this time, as they rushed over and threw their arms around Virgil, bringing him into a hug. They felt Virgil's shoulders tense up for a moment and began to draw away, not wanting to make Virgil uncomfortable, but he held onto Patton anyway. 

When they did draw away, though, Patton looked up at Virgil, beaming. "Thank you! For helping back there!" 

Virgil looked at them with concern. "Are you okay?" 

"Huh?" Patton hummed. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. A little shaken, maybe, but I'm a-okay!” They forced out a grin. 

Virgil frowned. "They didn't hurt you?" 

Patton shrugged. "Eh. I'm used to it." 

That just seemed to concern Virgil even more. "Patton-" 

"Seriously, I'm fine!" They rubbed their hand on their shoulder, a couple flowers sprouting and beginning to heal the burn marks - not as well as they may have hoped, but they could try to do a better job later on. "It isn't the first time I've had people come at me like that. I'll be fine." 

Virgil bit his lip. "If you... If you say so."

Patton smiled. "I do. But thanks again." 

"It's no problem." Virgil leaned back on one foot, putting a hand in his pocket. "What are you doing here, anyway?" 

"Oh, I was looking for you." 

"Looking for... me?" Virgil seemed genuinely bewildered by that statement. "Why?" 

Patton blinked. "You... You seemed upset when you left. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." 

"I'm... fine." Virgil came up besides Patton, leaning on the wall next to them. "Dinner was just a bit... much. Don't usually hang out with that many people." He glanced around. "Uh, do you wanna head to my dorm?" 

Patton nodded. "Sure." 

"Okay." He began to lead Patton up the other flight of stairs, to his own dorm. 

"How many people do you usually hang with?" Patton asked. 

"What?" 

"You said you don't usually hang out with that many people." 

"Oh!" Virgil thought. "I, uh, don't usually hang with anyone." 

Patton made a concerned noise at that. 

"I like being alone," Virgil continued, although it didn't really make Patton feel much better. "Besides, half the school is terrified of me. That's how I got those people away earlier." 

"That doesn't mean you should have to sit alone," Patton argued. "Surely you have at least one friend, right?" 

Virgil hummed. "Well, there's my dormmates who kinda tolerate me." 

"That doesn't count as a friendship." 

"In that case, no, I guess not." 

And that just broke Patton's heart, because nobody deserved to be alone in the world. Everybody deserved to have someone to talk to, to care about them, to be there for them. And Patton wasn't about to let Virgil go without that. 

"Well, you do now," Patton decided, as they reached Virgil's dorm.

"I do?" he questioned, unlocking the door. 

"Yes! You have me now. And the rest of the group, of course."

As he pushed open the door, Patton noticed his skeptical expression, looking as though he wasn't entirely convinced. "That would certainly be nice. But I'm fairly sure at least Roman and Declan hate me." 

"They don't hate you!" Patton defended, following Virgil into the room. "Roman is just like that, and Declan isn't a naturally trusting person. I'm... pretty sure the only person they really trust is Roman." 

Virgil sat down on his bed, motioning for Patton to join him. As they made their way over, Patton glanced around the room, similar to their own save for Virgil's personal touches to his area - the purple bed covers, drawings pinned to the wall, and a makeup set strewn across the bed. 

"Why's that?" Virgil asked. 

Patton shrugged. "They're close, I guess. Declan was raised to be Roman's knight. They've known each other since they were children, and as they got older Declan has always protected Roman." 

"Does Remus not also have a knight, then?" 

"They do, I think." Patton looked up at the ceiling. "But they're not as close as Roman and Declan. Roman _begged_ to let Declan come with him to the school after spending the first year without him. I suppose Declan also acts as Remus' knight, though." They took off their shoes and brought their feet up onto the bed, sitting cross legged. "Declan's not supposed to be here, though. They do have powers, but not as strong as the usual student. They can do wonders with a sword, though." 

Virgil didn't respond to that, so Patton just smiled. 

"But I didn't come up here to talk about those two," Patton said. "Are you sure you’re okay?" 

"I'm fine, Patton," Virgil said. "I don't have great control over my powers. It's a problem and I've been trying to sort it out since years before I arrived at the Academy, but... it's difficult. I didn't mean to ruin the apple." 

Patton frowned. "Is the apple all you were worried about?" 

Virgil blinked. "Yes?" 

"Virgil, there was nothing wrong with what you did back there," Patton reassured him. "If that's what your powers do, then let it happen. There's nothing wrong with using your magic." 

Virgil sighed. "That's... not what everybody else would say." 

"Screw everybody else." Patton took Virgil's hands, squeezing them tight and not even caring that a small strip of shadow crept it's way up their arm. "Your powers are wonderful and you shouldn't try to limit them. Let them do their thing, and earn their trust, and then everything will work out fine." 

Virgil let out a small laugh. "If only that would work." 

"It will work," Patton said. "It worked for me. Trying to stop your powers won't help. You need too... embrace them." 

Virgil looked at them. "What, have you tried to 'stop your powers'?" 

Patton glanced down. "There was a time where I tried to... suppress them, I guess. But that was a long time ago, and I don't really want to talk about it. But you-" They looked back up, making eye contact with Virgil and momentarily being distracted by his shining eyes, one green and one purple. Looking at his eyes resulted in Patton looking at everything else, his tanned skin and dark brown hair, chapped lips and bushy eyebrows, the little bit of dark eyeshadow under his eyes. But they tried not to be too distracted, and returned to the conversation at hand. "Uh, it seems like you've been trying to suppress your powers your whole life." 

"Because that's what people want me to do," Virgil said. "And what I want me to do. I don't want to hurt anyone." 

"You won't hurt anyone if you learn to embrace your powers," Patton said. "They're acting out on you because you’re trying to shut them out, which isn't healthy. You need to... let them do their thing, and then you'll get more control over them." 

Virgil hummed, looking down at his hands. "You think so?" 

"I know so." Patton grinned. "This trip will help, I think." 

A small smile formed across Virgil's face, to which Patton just started beaming. "Yeah. It will."


	6. Chapter 6

Virgil watched the sunrise from his dorm window, allowing himself to feel these last few minutes of peace before he had to leave. He hadn't slept the previous night, not even after Patton left, but he wasn't tired at all. 

His dormmates were still fast asleep, and he assumed they would stay that way until long after Virgil left. That was fine - he didn't want to have to explain where he was going. They'd probably just be happy to have a break from him. He'd collected some of his drawings and hidden them in his drawers, along with his makeup which he wasn't planning on taking with him. If he was going to be moving around a lot and fighting monsters and everything, he imagined he wouldn't have much time for makeup anyway. 

As the sun fully emerged from behind the forest, Virgil sighed and turned around, fiddling with his necklace as he began to walk down to the front of the school. The morning breeze brushed against his cheeks as he slowly made his way through the school grounds, and he was beginning to really like the idea of this 'adventure' he was getting himself into. Time away from the school was sounding more and more appealing with every passing second, especially time with people who may actually care about him. And what's more, doing this meant he was doing something that _mattered_. He was helping and maybe, just maybe, he'd make the world a slightly better place. 

He was the first to arrive at the gates, which for a moment made him worry that he was in the wrong place, or he got the wrong day or time, but his fears were quickly shot down when he noticed a couple carriages on the other side of the gates, painted purple and gold - the school colours - with open windows and cushioned seats instead, lead by two white horse each, and a few bags of supplies off to the side. He leaned against the wall next to the gates, looking back at the Academy. It didn't seem so long ago that he arrived at the Academy and saw it like this for the first time. All those years ago, stepping through the gates into this new world, this perfect place where people were supposed to help him and care for him and where everything was supposed to make so much more sense. 

Looking back, he supposed that never happened. At least this place let him use his magic, but that was pretty much the only improvement from back home - here, people still feared him, despised him. It was only the last couple days that people started to pay attention to him, and Patton... well, they were probably the first 'friend' that Virgil had ever had, if he could call them that yet.

This trip would be good for him, he reminded himself. Assuming he didn't mess everything up like usual, this was his chance to get a group of people behind him, a group of people he could rely on, who would help him. And maybe, just maybe, people would start to hate him a little less. 

He saw the others coming down from the school, and gave them a small wave. 

Patton rushed up to him. "Virgil! We were looking for you!" 

Virgil frowned. "You were?" 

"Yeah, we went up to your room, but you weren't there," Patton said. "Logan said you'd probably be at the gates, though." 

Virgil blinked. "But- Why?" 

"We usually all get together for breakfast before this," Patton said. 

"Oh." He glanced to the side. "Have you been? For breakfast?" 

"Oh, no." Patton shrugged. "We brought some food with us, though. We can eat on the journey." 

Virgil relaxed a little at that. He hadn't ruined their plans completely, at least. 

The gates began to open. Virgil turned around and watched, stepping back a little so he was more in the group. Logan led the way through the gates and to the carriages, with each person picking up one of the bags as they went. Virgil stayed to the back of the group and took the final seat next to Patton, with Logan also in the carriage. The other three had already taken their seats in the first carriage, and part of Virgil thought this was because they wanted to be as far away from him as possible, but the more rational part of his brain told him they all sat together because of Roman and Declan's relationship, plus the fact that Remus was Roman's sibling. 

"Are you alright, Virgil?" Logan asked. 

Virgil frowned. "Yeah? Why?" 

"This is your first time doing this," he clarified. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't feeling too anxious about it." 

"I'm always feeling anxious," Virgil said, half-jokingly, as the carriages began to drive away. 

"Is that a side effect of your powers?" 

"Huh?" 

Logan pushes his glasses up his nose. "I noticed that your cloud seems to grow in moments of worry or stress," he stated. "Or, at least, what I assume to be worry or stress, I'm not brilliant with emotions. I've been wondering if the cloud impacts on your emotions, or vice versa." 

Virgil shuffled back in his seat. "The cloud kinda has a mind of its own. I think... I think it's more powerful when my emotions are stronger. I don't know. I don't really understand it." 

"Interesting," Logan hummed. 

"What's interesting?" 

"Just... the fact that you don't understand your powers," Logan said. "In most cultures, children are taught to learn what their powers mean and how to communicate with their magic." 

"Not in Therba," Virgil mumbled. 

Logan looked vaguely concerned at that, but apparently decided to drop the subject, perhaps sensing Virgil's discomfort. The carriage fell into silence as Logan began drawing on his arm, Patton played around with a few flowers forming in their hands, and Virgil looked out the window, watching the forest fly past. 

At some point, Patton took some food out their pocket and distributed it between the three of them - just some pastries from the school bakery, Virgil assumed. It was the pastries that, ever since he joined the school, Virgil had wanted to try, but hadn't because he had always been too afraid of the kitchens to go in and ask for some. He never really ate breakfast due to that fear, asides from the few days that they did cooked breakfasts in the dormitories. But this pastry he decided to eat, and he was glad that he did, because it was possibly the most delicious thing he'd ever eaten. 

Patton smirked at him. "You seem to be enjoying that." 

Virgil glanced up. "I've never had them before. If I knew they were this good, I'd be having them every day." 

Patton laughed. "Trust me, they can get boring after a while." 

"How come you've never had them?" Logan asked, still looking down at his arm. "You've been at the Academy for several years, right?" 

"Breakfast isn't really my thing," Virgil said. "So I haven't really considered it." Not the full truth, but not a complete lie either. 

"Ah," Logan said. "Well, breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I highly recommend that you try to eat at least something for breakfast every day, but on this trip there may be a few days we don't get chance. Which isn't ideal, but at least you should be fairly used to it." 

Virgil smiled. He looked back out the window for a second, before turning back to Logan. "Hey, what are you drawing?" 

"Logan can see the future!" Patton chimed in excitedly, their eyes lighting up in admiration. 

Logan sighed. "I cannot see the future, Patton. I can make predictions on what the stars tell me, but there's no way to know what they actually mean, or if what the stars show me is even a prediction at all." 

"He can see the future," Patton continued to insist. 

Logan shook his head fondly, looking at Patton for a moment longer before turning to Virgil and showing his arm. "Stars often travel across my skin, sometimes representing parts of the night sky from different places across the universe. I draw on my arms to connect the stars in what could be a constellations. The drawings sometimes relate to future events, so Patton seems to think I can see the future. They don't always show the future, though. Usually it's just something important that comes up, or something that I need to keep in mind. Sometimes I just draw for the... 'fun' of it, that's what Remus says." 

"That's cool," Virgil replied, glancing over the drawings. A lot of them were just swirls or random shapes, but there were some more defined objects, including flowers and trees and... 

Virgil frowned. "What's this one?" he asked, pointing to a drawing on Logan's right wrist. 

Logan withdrew his arm, looking down at the drawing Virgil had pointed out. "I don't know. I just drew that one." He showed it to Patton. "Should we be concerned about this?" 

As Patton stared at it, Virgil took some time to have a better look. The drawing was of a face of some sort, with wild, frizzy hair and a manic expression. And the longer Virgil stared at it, the more detailed it appeared to become. The face was wrinkled and... almost scary, the more Virgil thought about it. It had large, pointy teeth and an evil glint in it's eyes. Virgil noticed his cloud growing larger around his feet. And the drawing was beginning to glow red. 

"You don't think-" 

There was a scream from the carriage in front. Their carriage stopped and Virgil's eyes darted back and forth between Patton and Logan, looking for an explanation. 

Logan just sighed. "That was Remus. I'd imagine-" 

As if one cue, the carriage door opened and Remus jumped inside, slamming the door behind her. She crawled up next to Logan, a little too close for comfort, and Logan allowed her to, seemingly used to this. 

Patton looked at Remus. "What's going on?" 

"Big monster," Remus said between breaths. "Massive, scary monster. It..." She looked down at her knee, causing the rest of the passengers to do the same. " _Fuck_ , I'm bleeding." 

She was. Virgil watched the blood drip down from her knee down the carriage floor, forming a pool near Virgil's feet. It looked a lot worse that it probably was, with the blood getting mangled up in the hairs on her legs. 

She hummed. "Actually, that's pretty cool." 

Patton sighed. "No it's not, Remus." They lifted their hand and gestured towards Remus, causing a few petals to fly her away and gather around the injury. The white petals slowly turned a deep red as they drew out the blood, and when Patton pulled them back towards themself, the blood had completely stopped and the wound had healed over. 

Remus stared at her knee a little longer, looking somewhat disappointed. "I could've kept that blood." 

"There's plenty of blood on the floor if you want it so badly," Patton said.

"I could've cleaned up the blood myself," Remus continued to argue.

"Yes, but then you'd risk poisoning yourself, Remus." 

"Nah, I'd have been fine." Remus leant back. "The same probably can't be said for the others, though." 

Patton blinked, before their eyes widened. "Shoot, you left them with the monster, didn't you?" 

Remus shrugged. "They can handle it." 

At this point Virgil was seriously beginning to question whether this trip was actually worth it, and whether he should have said no right off the bat. "Will they?" 

"Yeah." She grinned. "They're both good with a sword. And Roman has fire." She stood up, thankfully short enough that she didn't touch the ceiling. "Actually, I kinda wanna see this-" 

Logan pulled her back into her seat by the arm. "Absolutely not. You're already injured. For now, we should wait until-" 

Another scream. 

Remus shot up again. "That was Roman." 

"It's okay," Patton said, as Logan pulled her back done again. "Declan's out there, they'll-" 

An explosion.


	7. Chapter 7

Of course Remus had run at the first sign of danger. Of _course_ she had. 

Declan glanced at Roman, noticing the fear in his eyes. It was very rare that Roman was well and truly afraid, very rare that he _showed_ it, but they supposed he had been caught off guard. He was staring at the open doorway, where Remus had been dragged out and briefly fought off whatever was out there, before fleeing to the other carriage. Following Roman's gaze, they noticed a small pool of blood forming on the ground outside the carriage. 

Their grip tightening on their sword strapped around their waist, Declan stood up, their scales flickering purple for a second. "Stay here, I'll handle it." 

"Declan-" 

"Stay here," Declan reenforced. They weren't about to let their prince get hurt. 

Roman shut up after that. Sighing with relief, Declan closed their eyes and concentrated, feeling their scales twitch and turn until they couldn't feel them any longer, couldn't feel anything. They were gone, invisible to the outside world, to anyone they wanted to stay hidden from. They looked back at Roman for a second, smiling, and Roman smiled back, reinsuring them that he still knew they had his back, and with that they left the carriage directly into the middle of danger. 

The monster towered above them, blood dripping down from its razor sharp teeth, and Declan was _terrified_ , but they could do this, for their friends, for their family, for Roman. They never usually ran into danger this early on the trip, but things on the continent were getting worse. The corruption must have begun to spread to the island, which showed just how important this mission was. If all the evil reached the Academy... 

There would be chaos. Pure, unrivalled chaos. The Academy wouldn't stand a chance. All these powerful people would die and magic would run short. The world as they knew it would flip upside down. The Academy was the only real safe place left... 

The monster hadn't seen Declan yet. It wouldn't see Declan until they let themself be seen, or until the monster realised what was going on. Declan rushed to the trees, sneaking around the back of the monster. But the monster was making its way closer to the carriage again, closer to where their prince was trapped. 

As they began to climb one of the trees, they noticed Roman getting out of the carriage. _Idiot._ Roman was... He was going to get hurt, and it would be all Declan's fault for not protecting him sooner. They weren't close enough to the monster yet, not ready to attack, and it had almost reached Roman- 

A wall of fire rose up between Roman and the monster and Declan sighed with relief. It wouldn't be able to get past that - Roman was protecting the others, wasn't he? They locked eyes with Roman through the flame, but if Roman saw them he didn't let it show. Bringing their sword up over their shoulder, Declan jumped down onto the monster and stuck their sword into its back. 

The monster cried out in agony, and a black liquid began leaking out through its skin, but it didn't fall. Declan pulled their sword back out, and in response the monster kicked, flinging Declan off its back. They flew through the air for a few seconds, the world turning into a blur, before landing on the hard ground. They thought they felt a bone crack, but tried to ignore it. 

They could feel their scales again. They were visible now, and as the monster turned around, they realised they had made a massive mistake. It sneered at them, it's red eyes piercing into their skull, and charged. Declan attempted to get up and run, but their leg wouldn't budge. Instead, they cowered lower to the floor, holding their arms in front of their face as they braced themself for impact. They heard Roman scream. 

And then there was an explosion. The monster cried, and flames filled the air, embers falling down besides Declan, a couple landing on their skin. They could deal with the heat, ignore the burns forming on their skin, but the pain in their leg was really beginning to grow. 

After the smoke cleared away, they saw that the monster had fallen, and Roman was standing on the other side of the corpse trying to catch his breath, his face covered in soot. But he soon rushed over to Declan's side, leaning down and cupping their face in his hands.

"Are you okay?" Roman asked, frantically, checking all over their body. 

Declan slowly nodded. "I'm fine, darling." 

"You're hurt," Roman said. "You have blood- And your scales-" 

"Roman, I'm okay-" 

Roman looked to be close to tears. "I- I'm sorry, I should've-" 

"I'm not hurt," Declan said, forcibly. They sat up, trying their best not to wince at the pain still in their leg. 

Roman just threw his arms around Declan, pulling them in for a tight, comforting hug. "I love you," he whispered. "I want you to know that." 

Declan sighed. "I know, Roman. You don't need to tell me now, I'm not going to die." 

"But I really do love you," Roman continued. "I was scared. I don't... I don't want to lose you." 

"You won't lose me." Declan pulled away and looked Roman in the eye. They brought up their hand to Roman's forehead, swiping his hair out of his eyes. "I promise you won't lose me." 

"It would have killed you-" 

"And I'm very grateful that you came to my rescue," Declan said, "but I assure you, I could've handled it." They wiped away Roman's tears. 

Another person came running up behind them. "Roman! Are you-" It was Remus. When she saw the sight of Declan, she stopped. "Declan-" 

"They're okay," Roman breathed out. "Nothing- Nothing that can't be healed, right?" 

Remus looked between the two of them, before rushing back to the carriage. She returned a couple moments later with Patton by her side. 

"What happened?" Patton asked, kneeling down next to Declan, still in Roman's arms. 

Declan's scales flickered pink for a moment. They fixed their eyes on the ground, allowing Roman to speak for them. 

"The- That _thing_ threw them in the air. I think- I think they might have broken their leg," Roman explained to Patton. 

Patton had a look at Declan. "Is it okay if I-" 

Declan nodded before Patton could finish, letting them know that they could do anything they needed to. They trusted Patton, they knew that Patton would be able to stop them from hurting. 

Patton slowly rolled up Declan's trousers to get a better look at their leg. Declan winced a little as they did this, but didn't attempt to stop them. They refused to look down, afraid of what state their leg might be in. Without another word, Patton got to work, moving their hand over Declan's leg with some petals sticking to their skin. When Declan finally convinced themself to take a look, they saw the leg was back to normal, save for the flowers now replacing some of their scales. 

"We'll have to bandage it up for a while," Patton said. "I- I think the bone did break. But the flowers should help it to heal, and you might be able to walk a little by the time we make it to Aquantur." 

Declan offered Patton a small smile. "Thank you." 

"Does it hurt much?"

"No," they lied. 

"Be careful not to put too much pressure onto it," Patton advised. "Just- Just stay here a moment while I get a bandage." 

Declan did as instructed, with Roman also refusing to leave their side. Remus still stood a few metres away, watching with a mixture of concern and amazement. But soon enough, Patton returned with a bandage and got back to work. 

Roman took Declan's hand and gripped it tight. Declan looked up at him. "Are you alright?" they asked. 

"Yeah, I'm good," Roman reassured them. "It didn't get its hands on me. Just feel a little faint." 

"Too much magic?" 

"Not enough." He sighed. "You'd think that this forest would be filled with magic, but that explosion was... hard." 

"It was big," Declan said. "Makes sense for you to need a lot of magic." 

"I know, just... I thought that at the Academy I wouldn't need to grasp for so much magic." He sighed. "I think I just need to recharge." 

Declan nodded. "Yes. That-" They winced as Patton pulled the bandage tight. "-sounds like a good idea." 

"You'll have plenty of time for rest on the rest of the way to Aquantur," Patton said, as they finished putting the bandage. "Now, could you help me get Declan to the carriage?”

Roman picked Declan up bridal-style and carried them back to their seat. Although kind of surprised by this, Declan cuddled up to Roman's chest. 

"Or that works too," Patton said, standing up and retreating to their own carriage. 

Roman put Declan down in their seat and they readjusted themself so they were sat up, leaning against the back of the chair. Roman took his own seat besides Declan, allowing them to continue to rest besides him, leaning their head on his shoulder and intertwining their fingers with his. 

Soon after, Remus returned to the carriage and sat opposite them. "What _was_ that?" she asked. 

As Declan wasn't in the mood to talk, they allowed Roman to do all the talking for them. "No clue," he said. "Never seen anything like it." 

"It just came out of nowhere." 

"I know." Roman sighed. "I didn't think there would be any monsters on the island." 

Remus glanced out the window. "It's getting worse." 

"It'll be better soon," Roman said. "We're going to fix this." 

Declan knew that Roman was just saying that to make his sister feel better. They weren't just going to _fix this._ They couldn't do that. They were just... kids. Not even finished with school yet. Just kids, being shoved out into the dangerous world, expected to fix all these problems that the adults failed to do. The five- The six of them weren't just going to end this war single handedly. The world couldn't rely on a group of teenagers to save the world. 

But they would. Of course they would. The Academy didn't care if any of them died. It was supposed to be this safe place, this wonderful world where people could learn to control their powers and learn to live in a world that would throw everything against them, but they didn't care if they failed. They didn't care if the Academy was dangerous for them, and Declan was beginning to question whether joining the Academy had been a good idea. 

Of course, it hadn't really been their choice. They were only here because of Roman, and Roman was only here because of his father. Right now, Declan could be safe at home in Denemuis, with whatever remained of their family, with whoever would still be willing to take them in. None of this adventure stuff, none of the near-constant danger they were in. And maybe part of them would be less happy. Maybe they wouldn't have met Roman, and maybe their family wouldn't have been so supportive with their decision to fall in love with a guy, but they would at least be safe. 

But then maybe they wouldn't. Denemuis wasn't a great place to live. People there weren't _too_ fond of them - or at least, they assumed so, as why else would they kick them out? They would have fit in in Denemuis, being a good warrior and all, but maybe... maybe it wasn't the place for them. 

Meeting Roman had been one of the highlights of Declan's life. They couldn't have been more happier to fight for him, to fight by his side, to protect him with their life. They lived for Roman, and if it wouldn't break Roman's heart they would die for him too.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: disturbing imagery

Remus picked at the brown hairs on her leg, around the swollen scar beginning to form. That had been scary. Of course, it wasn't the first time that she had been injured, and definitely not the worst injury she'd faced, but... 

They were so close to the Academy. She didn't even know that there were monsters on the island. She thought it was _safe._ But it wasn't. Nowhere was safe, she knew that now. 

And she was in more danger than anyone else. Well, the _group_ was in more danger than anyone else, but Remus was definitely towards the upper end of that list, maybe with Roman right at the top. They were both in line to the throne of Silvales, the very kingdom that appeared to be beginning to lose this war. They must be losing the war, because if they were winning a monster never would've made it to this island. And Roman and Remus were big targets. If _they_ died, it would just be their father left, and he wasn't going to put up much of a fight. 

And yet, it was Roman and Remus being sent out to fix this mess. How perfect. 

"Would you stop picking at your leg?" Roman asked, although it sounded more like an order. "It's gross." 

"I'm not the one covered in soot," Remus replied, continuing to pick at her leg. 

"That's not my fault-" 

" _You're_ the one that started that fire-" 

"If I didn't, my _boyfriend_ would have died-" 

"Would you two _shut_ _up_?” Declan interrupted, in their stern voice. Both twins immediately fell silent, not wanting to cross Declan. Especially when they were in this mood - they hadn't spoken since they got in the carriage, so they must have been desperate for the two of them to stop, probably just wanting some peace and quiet, some room to breathe, a chance to think. 

Remus still carried on picking at her leg, which Roman didn't complain about again. 

"I'm sorry," Remus finally said. 

Roman frowned. "What for?" 

"Abandoning you guys," she replied, sighing and leaning her head back. 

"You did the right thing, Remus," Roman said, softly. "You were injured. Getting to Patton was the best thing you could've done. Me and Declan handled it fine by ourselves." 

"Declan got hurt," Remus reminded him. Declan shot her a death stare, which she ignored. 

"Declan's fine," Roman replied. "Aren't you, dear?" 

They nodded slowly, moving closer to Roman. 

The carriage stopped. Remus glanced out the window and saw the sea. They had made it to the docks. But it didn't take them long to realise that the boat wasn't there yet, meaning it may still be a couple hours before they could go any further. 

Remus stood up, opening the carriage door. "I'll give you two some privacy." She tried her best not to sound bitter, but it still came out that way. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roman asked, but Remus had already left the carriage and closed the door before she had time to respond. 

She walked down towards the beach, her hooves sinking a little into the sand as she went. The other three hadn't yet got out of their own carriage, so, at least for now, Remus had the whole beach to herself. She went down towards the sea and sat on the wet sand, allowing the waves to wash over her body. The water washed a little of the dried up blood that remained around her wound, which she was grateful for - at least the sea was treating her right. 

She looked at her reflection in the water, frowning a little in distaste. Pursing her lips, she brought her hands up and undid the ribbon holding up her ponytail, letting her hair fall down in front of her eyes. The black roots were really starting to piss her off - maybe she'd dye it again soon, just to make the green a little more vibrant. But having it down for a moment helped. When it was tied up, she looked too much like... 

Well. It didn't really matter. She was her own person, she had to remind herself that. And soon enough she could be on her own way. She didn't have to be the 'Heir of Silvales'. Once her father was gone and Roman was King, she was sure that he'd understand that she didn't want any of that. She could forget her 'royal duties' (as if she ever did them anyway) and move away. She didn't even have to go to the Academy anymore. 

The Academy wasn't safe anymore, anyway. Maybe she could speak to her father sooner, let him know that she was _done_ with that way of life. Even Silvales would be better than the Academy. She could at least escape there - she could journey into the forest, away from the Palace, or even take a trip across to Nochae if she really wanted to. She didn't _care_ about her magic, or about the crown, or reputation, or any of that shit. That was Roman's job, anyway. He was more fit to rule. Remus was only fit to be thrown to the side. 

She was bored. Already. How long had she been staring at her reflection? 

Her reflection. Even with her hair down, she was beginning to look like him. 

She lifted her hand and some water floated up with it, hovering a couple metres above the waves. She closed her hand tight and watched the ball of water close in on itself, a moment later growing again into a bright green liquid. Grinning, Remus reached out her other hand and grabbed the ball, which collapsed upon contact but stuck to her skin. She ran her fingers through her hair, all the way up to the roots, and the stands slowly turned that sickening shade of green, the ends slightly darker as the green layered up. It stung her scalp a little as some of the liquid sank through her hair, but she ignored that, because when she looked back down at her reflection she didn't look like him anymore. 

Her father would've hated this, had she done it back home, and that was part of the appeal. She knew it was damaging to her, but it wasn't something that wouldn't heal. Her hair would grow and if she really wanted to she could cut out the green, and everything would be healthy again. There was nothing that could be done about her horns, but they looked better green anyway, and if the poison started really damaging them she could easily just cut them off too. 

It was poison. Not really. In essences, she supposed it was, since that was her whole thing - turning liquids into poison, controlling poisonous substances in general - but it wasn't as if it harmed her. This kind of 'poison' just... made her hair green. And stung her hands a little, but after washing the excess off back into the sea she was perfectly fine. 

She looked back at her reflection and smiled. Everything was fine, wasn't it? Her horns had even begun to grow another layer of green, a darker shade of splotches towards the bottom. Maybe one day she would try to paint her horns to have nicer patterns on them. She could easily make some paints the same way she made the dye. She'd have to get better at painting first, though. 

She pulled her hair back into a ponytail and leant back on her hands, sinking them into the sand. The sun flickered on the surface of the ocean, causing the water to sparkle, and Remus smiled. Maybe that was one good thing about the island - she wouldn't get this back in Silvales, even if she did get out of the Palace. 

She laid back on the sand and looked up at the blue sky, almost clear asides from a few clouds. The sand was soft against her head, and for a moment she closed her eyes, thinking that maybe she could fall asleep and everything would be okay. Maybe she'd wake back up in Silvales, a child again, before she was sent to the Academy, before the war made an impact on her life. Maybe it had all been a dream, and in reality she was safe with her brother and her mother by her side, keeping her warm. 

"Remus?" 

She opened one eye and saw Logan standing above her. Sighing, she closed her eye again. "Hey, Logan." 

"What are you doing?" he asked. 

"Letting the sand consume me." 

She felt the sand besides her shuffle, and assumed that Logan had sat besides her. "That doesn't seem very wise." 

"The sand can eat me up and then spit bits of me out. My leg can be over by the forest, and my arm can be stuck near the dock, and maybe my head will be carried away by the sea so I can travel all over the world." 

After a moment of silence, Logan said, "You really concern me, Remus." 

Remus laughed. "You probably should be concerned." 

She felt something tug at her hair - Logan's hand. "You didn't poison your hair again, did you?" 

Remus hummed. "So what if I did?" 

"You know that's incredibly harmful to you," Logan stated. 

"It's no different to you drawing on your skin," Remus replied, to which Logan didn't seem to have a response for. She rolled over and opened her eyes, looking up at Logan. "I know what I'm doing." 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Do you really? I never would've guessed." 

She shoved his leg. "Leave me alone. I'm not a _complete_ mess." 

"You're lying in the sand with half of your body in the sea." 

" _Listen-_ " 

"I'm not judging you," Logan reassured her. "Lie in the sand all you want. As long as you don't let yourself drown when the tide comes in-" 

"Oh! That'd be fun!" Remus grinned wide. 

"No, it wouldn't." Logan sighed. "You would die, Remus." 

Remus groaned. "Why'd you gotta be such a buzzkill?" 

"I'm... I'm just making sure that you stay safe, Remus," Logan said. "Drowning would be less than ideal." 

Remus sat up. "Would it, though?" 

Logan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Remus, it would. I don't know how to explain to you that drowning would be a bad thing." 

Remus laughed. "I'm just messing with you, Lo." 

Logan glanced at Remus, the ends of his lips tilting up a bit. "Well, it's not funny." 

"Yes it is." 

"We have very different senses of humour, in that case." 

"Nah." Remus swung her arm around Logan's shoulder, pulling him closer. "Deep down, you're just as messed up as I am. Otherwise I'd get bored speaking to you." 

Logan hummed. "Are you bored?" 

Remus just smiled. "I'm never bored with you." 

And for a moment, they just looked at each other, Logan finally smiling. _Really_ smiling. Remus looked into his deep blue eyes, sparkling like the stars. Knowing Logan, it probably _was_ actually stars in his eyes - he had enough stars everywhere else. Remus noticed that, sometimes, if you were looking really hard at Logan, you'd see stars floating around him, glittery dust surrounding his entire body, sometimes tiny creatures flying around as well. But as soon as you looked directly at them, they disappeared. No, you had to be looking right at Logan to ever see them. 

Sometimes Remus thought that it was only her that ever saw those stars. Nobody else had ever mentioned it, but then again nobody ever paid enough attention to Logan to notice it at all. She never said a word about it, a part of her wanting to keep that bit of Logan for herself. She'd never even mentioned it to Logan, and sometimes wondered if he even knew that everywhere he went, the stars followed him. 

Logan looked away and the spell was broken. Remus glanced down to the sand, beginning to lift clunks up to watch the grains fall through her fingers. 

"The boat's here," Logan announced. 

Ah. So that was why Logan looked away. That made Remus feel slightly better. 

"Time to go?" Remus checked. 

Logan nodded. "Time to go." 

The two stood up and walked side by side to the boat, joining the rest of the group on deck. Remus went to sit down near the side as the boat sailed away from shore, and looked out across the island she was leaving behind. If all went well, maybe she'd never have to return.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: missing home/family, talk of religion

They'd been sailing for some time now and the sun was beginning to set. Patton stopped pacing the ship and sat in the middle, leaning against a pole holding one of the sails. They hated being at sea, hated being so far away from nature, but it wasn't as if they had much of a choice. This was the only way off the island. 

Virgil sat down next to them. Patton noticed that his cloud was near non-existent, only a tiny bit of shadow formed at his feet. 

"You okay?" Patton asked, shifting their body around slightly so they were facing Virgil. 

After a moment of thought, Virgil frowned. "Yes, actually. That's weird." 

Patton giggled. "Nothing weird about being okay. That's a good thing." 

Virgil smiled a little, which made Patton melt inside. "Yeah. It is." 

"The thing earlier didn't scare you too much, did it?" Patton asked. 

"Oh, fuck, it was terrifying." Virgil glanced down. "I mean, I knew that this would be dangerous, but... God." 

Patton sighed. "Yeah. That's a regular occurrence for us, though. I mean, not usually so close to the Academy, but..." 

"I know. Things are getting worse." Virgil looked at Patton. "I stopped getting letters from home a couple months ago. My mother used to send one at least once every few weeks, but... she stopped." 

Patton wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "Is everything okay?" 

"I think so." Virgil shrugged. "She's maybe just busy. But... I don't know." They noticed him fiddling with the charm on his necklace. "I'd know if something bad happened. But I can't help but wonder." 

Patton hummed. "Were you close to her?" 

Virgil laughed. "Well." He rolled his head back, looking up at the darkening sky. "She didn't hate me, at least. She was... probably the _only_ person who didn't hate me. But still still sent me away, so. You know." 

In that moment, Patton struggled to try to understand Virgil's situation. He was... He really was just sent away, wasn't he? It wasn't his choice to come to the Academy, not like Patton. Perhaps Virgil had wanted to come, but that didn't change the fact that he was driven out of his home. Even if his mother did care for him, the rest of his family didn't, and Patton couldn't begin to imagine how horrible that must have felt. 

Patton hadn't had a bad childhood, per se. Lanamia had always been a nice place to live, with nice people. Their family had cared for them, respected them, allowed them to follow their dreams. Maybe it was just Lanamia - magic was a big thing over there, so _of course_ they encouraged them to practice their magic. Unlike Virgil, it seemed. 

"I miss her," Virgil said. 

Patton hummed. "Maybe you can see her soon. We're passing through Therba." 

Virgil glanced down. "I don't think I want to go back to the village." 

Patton nodded. "Okay. That makes sense, I think." 

"I'd like to see her," Virgil said. "It's just... hard." He lifted up his necklace. "This was hers. She gave it to me before I went away." 

Patton looked at the charm, smiling a little. It was beautiful - a glittering jewel, shifting between blue and green, in the shape of a raindrop. 

"She wore it all the time. At first I didn't want her to give it to me, because I knew how much she loved it, but..." He sighed. "She wouldn't let me leave without it. I haven't took it off since." 

Patton smiled. "That's good. You're still connected to her." 

"Yeah. I guess." 

They looked into one another's eyes for a second. Patton reached out to him, brushing against his hand. Virgil took theirs and locked their fingers together, resting their hands on the wooden deck. Patton leant their head on Virgil's shoulder and the two looked up at the sky, stars now beginning to form against the blanket of dark blue. 

But Virgil soon withdrew his hand and shuffled away. Patton couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed. 

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just shoved all of that into you." Virgil stood up. 

"You don't have to be sorry-" 

But he had already walked away. 

Patton sighed and leant their head back against the pole. It wouldn't be long until they were at Aquantur. By the morning they'd be there, Patton thought. And they _did_ love Aquantur, so at least it was something to look forward to. Everybody was so friendly over there, almost like back home. And it was peaceful, save for a few somewhat aggressive river creatures that were rare and only really attacked when provoked. They wouldn't be in the rivers, anyway, that'd be far too dangerous. 

Denemuis would maybe be less fun, but they wouldn't be there for long. Declan knew their way around, and could get them around quickly - probably for the better, as none of them (aside from Declan, of course) were really fit to be in Denemuis. They imagined Therba would be easy, as well - just a couple days of walking over the fields, staying in some villages along the way - but it was towards the end of Therba when things would get more dangerous. 

They weren't exactly looking forward to Ignebris. The last trip had been... Well, it hadn't been unsuccessful, but it was debatable whether the success was worth the cost. 

"Good evening, Patton," Logan said, sitting down besides them. 

Patton smiled. "Hey! Everything okay?" 

"I was about to ask you that, actually." 

"Oh." Patton hummed. "Everything's good." 

"I'm sorry you're being dragged along on this again," he said. "I know it isn't really your favourite thing to do." 

Patton laughed. "Nah, it's all good! Hanging out with y'all is definitely one of my favourite things." 

"I was just worried, since last time-" 

"Last time was fine," they insisted. "I'm all healed now, anyway." 

They weren't, not really. Well, they were, but...

Patton's magic was weird. They _could_ heal people, definitely better than they could heal themself. And they did heal themself, all the time, but... With magic, especially their kind of magic, a lot of it was more focused on belief, and Patton... Well, they did believe in magic, of course, and they believed in their own power to heal, but sometimes it was different to heal themself. Sometimes it only covered up the injury, made it seem like it wasn't there, made _them_ believe it wasn't there, but it still was. It didn't hurt, it didn't show, but it was there, hiding. And sometimes the scars would come back. 

They weren't sure if _this_ scar was still there or not, but a part of them swore that it was. 

"We'll be fine," Patton said. "We've done this so many times, Logan. I enjoy our trips." 

Logan nodded. "If you say so." 

Patton's eyes began to droop. "I think... I think I'm gonna sleep now." 

Logan nodded again. "Yes, that's good. I'd imagine we'll arrive there in the morning." 

"Yeah." They yawned. "Goodnight." 

"Night, Pat."

~*~ 

After talking with Patton, Logan returned to the side of the boat, leaning over the edge and looking out across the ocean. The moon reflected across the waves, and illuminated the night sky, and for a moment Logan felt at peace, staring at the stars. 

Until that peace was immediately ruined by Remus slinging an arm around his shoulder and loudly asking, “Wanna go for a swim?” 

Logan sighed. “Remus, do you have any idea how many problems that would cause.” 

Remus hummed. “Well, we might die, or drown, or get eaten by some sea monster or something, _but_ the pros far outweigh the risk.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Explain.” 

“Pros: swimming is fun, the water is either warm or cold and both would be appreciated, swimming with you would be a nice bonding experience.” 

“And these are better than dying because…?” 

“I… don’t know.” 

They were silent for a while longer after that, as Logan just stared at the stars, breathing in and out, with Remus bouncing on the spot next to him, subconsciously but not really annoyingly. After a few moments, Remus turned back to Logan, nudging him gently on the shoulder. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice softening a little. 

Logan nodded. “Yes, of course.” 

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?” 

Logan was silent for a while, before he eventually sighed. “I miss Nochae,” he admitted. “Like, _really_ miss it. And- I don’t know, we never really see stars like this at the Academy. It’s reminding me of home.” 

“You could go back there,” Remus said. “I mean, you’re not at the Academy right now. You could go right this second and nobody would know.” 

Logan closed his eyes and, once again, let out a long sigh. “Not until we’re finished with this mission. And not until I’m finished with the Academy. I still have work to do.” 

“You could work in Nochae,” Remus suggested. “They just have libraries there, right?” 

Logan blinked. His eyes drifted down to the sea. “Not like they do at the Academy. Nochae is ninety percent open space, with temples and villages. That’s it, really.” 

“Oh.” Remus glanced at Logan, looking a little curious. “Temples?” 

“We worship a lot, you know this,” Logan said. 

“Yeah, I...” Remus shook her head. “Never mind. Nochae is a different place to the rest of the world, isn’t it?” 

“Well, yes, culture is different everywhere-“ 

“That’s not what I- Y’know what, it’s fine. I’d like to visit Nochae one day.” 

“I know, Remus.” 

“You will take me, right?” 

“Yes, Remus, I will.” Logan turned around and sat down, leaning his head on the side of the boat. Remus joined him. “It’s been so long since I’ve done a proper worship. What if the gods don’t remember me?” 

Remus blinked. “I’m... not entirely sure what you mean by that, but I’m... sure they haven’t forgotten you?” 

Logan sighed. “It’s okay, don’t worry.” He began to fiddle with his braids, taking them out and redoing them a few times. He closed his eyes and breathed, tried to send a message to his gods, tried to find a connection, _any_ connection, but still nothing. Oh well. He... He had time to reconnect with them. He had so, so much life left, or he would after his time at the Academy was done. 

Glancing over at Remus, he noticed that she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Smiling fondly, Logan leant his head on top of hers, and tried to get to sleep as well.


	10. Chapter 10

The ship arrived at the docks as the sun rose over the horizon. Roman felt the warm light on his cheeks as he stepped off the boat, arm-in-arm with Declan, who he noticed was still walking with a limp. 

"Are you sure you're okay, my dear?" Roman asked, leaning into Declan's ear.

"I'm perfectly fine, my prince," Declan responded. 

"But your leg-" 

"Patton fixed it as best as they could," he said. "It doesn't hurt anymore." 

Roman breathed out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Good. But if anything gets too much for you-" 

"I'll be _fine_ ," Declan insisted. "This isn't the first time that I've had to travel with an injury. It'll heal up completely soon. It is healed up, mostly." 

Roman hummed. "Okay, my knight, if you say so." He still decided to keep a close eye of Declan, though - keep him by his side, in his arms, to make sure he was safe. 

He would be safe. 

"Alright," Logan began, dragging along a sleepy Patton, "we'll have to spend all of today following the river east before we reach the first inn." 

Patton groaned. "Why can't we take another carriage?" 

Logan glanced at him. "Too risky. The roads here aren't wide enough for an Academy carriage, and of course, the Academy hasn't given us any funding to get an Aquantian carriage." 

"That's dumb," Patton said. 

Logan sighed. "Yes, it is." 

Roman frowned. "Wait, what happened to the boats? It's all rivers here." 

"There's been some... problems," Logan said. 

"Problems?" Roman repeated. What kind of _problems_? 

"More river monsters than usual," Logan stated, simply. "I'd imagine it has something to do with Ignebris." 

Gods. It had reached _Aquantur._ Roman supposed that made sense, since the corruption was starting to reach the Academy Island as well, but... 

Aquantur had always been a safe place. They remained mostly neutral in wars - as far as Roman was aware, they hadn't even joined _this_ war, despite other Kingdoms setting up bases within their borders. Maybe with more monsters cropping up, they'll finally pick a side, but... 

Well. Aquantur wasn't that kind of place. They were a fishing kingdom, mostly. With rivers twisting all over the land, lakes reservoirs surrounded by cabins that people often stayed in for vacations, and beautiful beaches along the coast that made perfect day trips or week-long holidays. Roman remembered that his mother used to bring him and Remus here for holidays, when their father was particularly busy with his royal duties. So for him it had always been a place for family - even more so when he started travelling here with the group, as they quickly became his home away from home. 

Aquantur was supposed to be easy. It was their chance to relax and take in the views before heading into the more dangerous regions. He used to love their boat rides down the Great River - he still did. 

Declan nuzzled against Roman. "It's okay," he whispered. "We'll still have a good time." 

Roman smiled. "Yeah, of course." He looked back at Logan. "I'm guessing that means the boats have all been called off?" 

“Yes," Logan confirmed. 

"Great." 

The group walked past the docks and towards the forest, following the river that fed into the sea. Roman glanced down into the water, frowning a little at his reflection. His face was still covered in soot from that last encounter, and his hair was... well, it was less than perfect, and Roman wouldn't stand for that. As they walked, he leant down and scooped some water up in his hand, splashing and wiping his face in an attempt to get rid of some more of the soot. When he glanced back down, he saw that it was significantly better than before, though there were still a few black smudges here and there, which he decided to ignore for the time being. He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to make it somewhat presentable, before turning to Declan. 

"Do I look okay?" he asked. 

Declan looked up at him. "My prince, you _are_ aware that you're the most handsome person in the world, correct?" 

Roman blushed. "I am?" 

"Of _course_ you are." Declan smirked. "Anyone who doesn’t think so is insane." 

He blinked. "Even with soot all over my face?”

"If anything, that just makes it better," Declan said, his voice smooth. "Imperfection adds character." 

"Hey, there's nothing imperfect about me!"

Declan smiled. "Of _course_ there isn't, my darling." 

Roman beamed, proudly. Declan laughed, and Roman gently shoved his arm, resulting in Declan shoving back, although still stumbling a little. Once seeing him stumble, Roman lost his smile and stopped playing, but still exchanged glances with Declan every few seconds, noticing his scales turn a bright yellow for a moment. 

"Halt!" a voice proclaimed. 

The group stopped, with Roman almost running into Logan. A soldier stood in front of the group, guarding the entrance to the forest. That was strange. There had never been restricted access to Aquantur before. 

"State your purpose," the guard demanded. 

Logan stepped forward. "We've travelled from the Academy, to pick up a package from the Tahlia Falls Outpost, on our way to the Denemuis border. I believe you should have been informed of our arrival?" 

The guard didn't seem to buy it. 

Roman stepped forward. "I'm Prince Roman," he said. "And Prince Remus is back there, as well. From the Kingdom of Silvales." Throwing in the royal card usually worked when trying to get into places. 

The guard just frowned. "You're the Prince of Silvales?" 

"Yes?" 

"Why would the heir to the Silvalan throne be on this so-called mission?" 

Roman blinked. "I- I've always been on these missions." The royal card wasn't working. Great. 

"Well," the guard said, "access to Aquantur is restricted right now, anyway. Only citizens and politicians on official business are allowed access." 

Aquantur wasn't supposed to be like this. Aquantur was supposed to be open to all, a safe place. Why wasn't it open to all? 

"We are on official business," Logan stated. "You can contact the Tahlia Falls Outpost if you wish, they should-" 

"I'm sorry," the guard said. "I can't let you pass. Now please move away from the forest before we have to take more drastic measures." 

Logan looked as though he wanted to argue further, but apparently decided against it, as he turned around and walked back out towards the sea. After exchanging somewhat concerned glances with each other, the rest of the group followed, to where Logan was sat on the beach, shovelling sand through his fingers. 

"What now?" Patton asked, tentatively. 

Logan sighed. "I guess we stay on the beach and let Ignebris take over the world." 

"No," Patton said, going to sit besides Logan. Roman noticed that Virgil sat down as well, close to Patton, as though he was following them around. "We can find a way in, right?" 

Remus quickly joined the three of them. Roman saw Logan drawing on his arms again, presumably looking for a way in. The other three leaned in to watch - Remus more noticeably than the rest. Roman turned to Declan, who stood a little further to the side. 

"Think we should get out of their hair whilst Logan works?" Roman said. 

Declan nodded, moving further down the beach, with Roman soon following. The others didn't seem to care, or even notice. 

It seemed as though Declan's limp had declined a little, although Roman wasn't sure if he was just pretending to be better. He knew that Declan would be okay, of course, but... 

"Fight me," Declan requested, to which Roman smirked. 

"Are you asking for a rematch?"

Declan rolled his eyes. "It's not a rematch. It's... training." 

"It's totally a rematch," Roman said. 

"Shut up." He drew his sword. "Do you want-" 

Roman had already drawn his sword and got into a stance before Declan could finish. 

"Alright then." 

Declan immediately charged at Roman, clashing the two swords together. Roman stared into his eyes the whole time, as they moved up and down the shore, metal striking against metal. It was a little harder to fight on sand, Roman realised, with his hooves sinking into the grains a little with every step - Declan seemed a lot more comfortable fighting here, which Roman supposed made sense, as he originally began his training in a desert, he was _built_ to fight on sand.

Roman stepped forward, thrusting his sword down to Declan's waist - to the part where Roman knew his armour would prevent any weapon from drastically injuring him, but would still shock him if he was struck. But Declan blocked it with ease and pushed Roman's sword back, causing him to stumble a little. 

They were right by the sea now, Roman's hooves beginning to get wet as the waves caressed them. He jumped back to avoid Declan's swipe, accidentally splashing water up at Declan, but failed to block the following jab. The end of the sword poked Roman's stomach, causing his heart rate to skyrocket. His sword fell to the side, and Declan continued moving forward, holding his sword up and pushing Roman to the ground. 

For a moment Roman laid in the water, ready to accept death, as he stared at Declan's mischievous grin, the sun reaching around the back of his head and almost blinding Roman. The sword was held up against Roman's neck, a little too close for Roman's liking, but he wasn't afraid. His shortness of breath was only caused by the intense exercise he'd just put himself through, not at all from the nerves. 

Soon enough, though, Roman realised that Declan wasn't going to hurt him - he hadn't hurt him at all. He kicked his legs out, swiping at Declan's and causing him to come tumbling to the ground as well, his sword flying into the air and his hands landing on the sand either side of Roman. 

Smirking, Roman pulled Declan down by his shirt, and locked lips with him, feeling the warmth from Declan's check. At first Declan seemed a little surprised, but he soon melted into the kiss, just in time for Roman to thrust his knees up and throw Declan to the side again. Roman staggered up to his feet and grabbed his sword, quickly rushing to Declan's side and holding the sword up against his neck. 

"Oh no," Declan said, "you tricked me with your love." 

Roman smiled, before throwing his sword to the side again and holding a hand out, which Declan quickly took. He pulled his boyfriend up to his feet and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, with Declan nuzzling into his chest. 

Declan pulled Roman back down, and the two sat by the shore, the waves still just reaching their legs. He leaned into Roman's body, with Roman's arm still wrapped around him. And for a moment of pure bliss, the two just sat together, staring at the sun reflecting off the ocean. 

"Does that count as a win?" Roman asked. 

Declan hummed. "I'd call it a draw." 

"I got you down though-" 

"I got you down first." 

"You shouldn't have let your guard down so quickly." 

Declan snickered. "The battle was _over_ at that point. If you were a monster or an enemy or whatever, you would've been dead." 

"Maybe I used the final bit of strength I had left to overcome you," Roman said. "Monsters are getting far, far stronger, you know." 

Declan frowned. "You say that as if it's a good thing." 

"Well, if I was a monster, I'd imagine it would be a good thing," Roman said. "For me, I mean. Not for you. You'd be dead." 

Declan laughed. "I don't think anything can kill me." 

Roman was highly offended by that. "Not even me?" 

"You don't have the guts to kill me," Declan said, weaving himself out of Roman's grip and leaning back on his hands. 

"Uh, yeah, I do?" Roman claimed. "I've killed many things before-" 

"And I'm not denying that fact," Declan said, turning his head to look at Roman. 

Roman raised an eyebrow. "So what's different about you?" 

"You're madly in love with me." 

"Wow, that's a bold statement." 

"I can hear you talk in your sleep, y'know." 

Roman's felt his cheeks rapidly heat up. 

Declan just laughed even more. "I'm not lying, every single night you seem to proclaim your love for me in a different way-" 

" _Shut up_.”

"I swear to the gods, one night dream-you was trying to _propose_ to dream-me." 

They fell silent after that statement. Roman's eyes fell to the sand, which became very interesting all of a sudden. 

"Sorry, I-" 

"It's okay," Roman said. "I mean, I can't say I _haven't_ thought about it." 

Declan's eyes fell to the same spot as Roman's. 

"Is- Is that something that you'd like?" Roman asked, quietly. 

"I don't know." Declan breathed. "Well, I do. Of course I do. Or I will, eventually, probably. But right now..." 

"I know what you mean," Roman said, placing his hand on top of Declan's. "We can wait as long as you need. At least until this war blows over. Or we could not get married at all." 

"Would we even be allowed to?" Declan wondered. "With you becoming the King and all." 

"Nobody could stop us," Roman said. "I wouldn't _let_ anybody stop us. And they can't exactly say no to the King." 

Looking over at him, Roman noticed Declan still didn't seem entirely convinced. 

"And if worse comes to worse, we could always get married in secret," Roman suggested. 

Declan smiled. "Yeah. We could." 

They looked at each other for a while in silence, grinning. And in that moment, Roman felt entirely at peace.


	11. Chapter 11

Logan stared at his arm, his frown growing deeper with every passing second. This didn't seem to be helping. The stars weren't showing him any clear pictures, not even any noticeable symbols - just lines and swirls. And the other five - wait, no, three? Where had Roman and Declan gone? Logan hadn't even realised their disappearance. Either way, the other three were all staring at him, expecting him to come up with a solution, waiting for him to solve all their problems. 

Logan hummed, before sighing and spreading his leg out, pulling his trousers up. He began to draw on his thigh, thinking that maybe he just needed a different canvas. He connected the dots, once again drawing not much more than swirls, before throwing his pen to the floor in defeat. That wasn't working either. He supposed there were more places he could try out, but he doubted the others would be keen on him taking off his shirt right in front of them - asides from Remus, maybe, but that was Remus. 

"Did you figure it out?" Patton asked. 

Logan closed his eyes. "No." 

"Oh." 

They were all silent for a few moments. 

"It's okay, Logan," Patton said. "We can figure something out, I'm sure." 

"We'll have to sneak in," Virgil said.

"And how do you think we should do that?" Logan asked, sounding far more frustrated then he wanted to. 

Virgil shrugged. "I don't know. Is there, like, another way into the forest?" 

Logan sifted the sand through his hands. "There's several other entrances down the beach, but I'd imagine all of them will have a guard there. And now that they know of our arrival, chances are the word has spread to other guards." 

"So, we go in a way that isn't a clear entrance," Virgil suggested. "Trek through the forest for a little while before finding the path against. Once we're in it's not like they can stop us." 

"But how are we supposed to get in without the guard noticing?" Logan countered. 

Remus smirked. "One of us could distract the guard whilst-" 

"None of us are flirting with the guard, Remus."

Remus pouted. "You're no fun, Logan." 

"I'm just concerned about the safety of everyone in the group," Logan said. "If the guard catches on, the person flirting with him will probably receive dire consequences. I'd imagine imprisonment, or quite possibly death." 

"Sounds fun, I'm in." 

"Remus, no." 

"Maybe Declan could get us in," Patton chimed in. 

Remus' eyes widened. "Yeah! He can turn invisible, sneak up behind the guard, slice of his head-" 

"Or," Patton interrupted, looking a little disturbed by Remus' suggestion, "he can _talk_ to the guard and convince him to let us through. He's good with words." 

"Well, now we're back to my flirting idea that Logan shot down-" 

"I didn't say _flirt-_ ”

"Actually," Logan said, "Patton makes a good point." 

Remus gasped. "What, so _I'm_ not allowed to flirt with the guard but _Declan_ is?" 

"Nobody is flirting with anyone!" Logan said, firmly. Remus shut up at that. "But as Patton said, Declan is good with words. He'd have the best chance of convincing the guard to let us past." 

"And if he can't," Remus said, "he's also good with a sword." 

"We're not killing the guard," Logan decided, before adding as an afterthought, "unless we get really desperate." 

"No!" Patton exclaimed. "No murder!" 

"What's wrong with a little light murder?" Remus asked. 

"Everything!" Patton shook his head, exasperated. "Everything is wrong with that!"

"Maybe we shouldn't discuss our plans to murder the guard," Virgil said, quietly. "He is standing right over there, y'know." 

"You mean our plans to _not_ murder him," Patton said, glancing at Virgil. 

"Yeah, sure." 

It was at that moment that the other two decided to join. 

"Who are we murdering?" Roman asked, jumping down on the floor next to Patton. 

"We're murdering that guard so we can get into the forest," Remus explained. 

Logan sighed. "We're not murdering him," he told Roman. "We were planning on getting Declan to talk to him." 

Declan frowned, as Roman pulled him by the wrist down to the ground besides him. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, Patton brought up the fact that you're good with words, so we thought it may be worth a shot for you to go talk to the guard to attempt to convince him to let us past," Logan exclaimed. 

Declan blinked. "Do you... Are you asking me to flirt with him?" 

" _No_." 

"What we were thinking," Patton said, "is that you could go over there and talk to him, nicely, to convince him to let us through." 

Declan frowned. "Can't I just... kill him?" 

Logan rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We're not killing him." 

Declan hummed. "I could just sneak in and find another way for you guys to come through." 

Logan sighed. "We just thought this would be easier-" 

"Listen, just because I'm _good_ at lying, it doesn't mean I _enjoy_ it." 

"We weren't asking you to lie to him," Patton said. 

Declan gave them a fake smile. "I'm pretty sure you are." 

"We're just-" 

"Declan doesn't have to do anything he isn't comfortable with," Roman said, swinging his arm around Declan. "I'm sure we can find another way." 

Declan wiggled out of Roman's grip and stood up. 

"Oh, have you reconsidered?" Logan asked. 

"No. I'm gonna find another way in." He closed his eyes and the next second, he was gone. 

Logan frowned. "Is he-" 

"He's fine," Roman said, turning around. "He's going into the forest. Nobody'll catch him." 

"Alright." Logan asked. "I guess we wait, then." 

~*~ 

Once Declan made it far enough past the guard that he could no longer see him, he breathed out and allowed himself to be seen again. There wasn't anybody around, as far as he was aware, but as a precaution he waved his hand over his face and traded his reptilian scales for fish scales and gills, as a way to blend in more with the Aquantians. He wasn't sure how long he'd be able to keep the spell up, but he hopefully shouldn't be long finding a way for the others to get in. 

He walked down the narrow, rocky path, trying his hardest not to slip into the river right next to him. The river wasn't as calm as usual for this region - occasionally a wave would crash against the side and splash up onto the path - and Declan didn't know how much longer he'd be able to keep his balance. Falling into that stream would be certain death, especially with all the corruption spreading lately. 

He felt a rock beneath him crumble, causing him to leap to the side and cling to the cliff next to him, breathing heavily. He watched that same rock roll down into the river and downstream, eventually being swallowed by the waves. He stayed there for a moment longer, trying to control his breathing, before steadily turning around and looking at the cliff. It wasn't straight up, as he first thought, and he imagined he'd be able to get up there if he was careful. 

Declan gripped onto the rocks and hoisted himself up, quickly getting to the top of the cliff and sitting on the side. It wasn't that tall of a cliff, only around five metres above the path. He looked down at the river below him, feeling a little calmer - it looked a lot less dangerous from up here. 

A roar and a scream and a bang. Declan jumped up to his feet, hand instinctively reaching down for his sword. 

Turning around, he saw a blast of fire spread through the forest, lighting a few trees ablaze, before a sprout of water rushed after it. He turned invisible again, rushing over to the action but trying to stay hidden in the trees. 

There must have been about twenty Aquantian soldiers in full armour, all running back and forth and holding their weapons high. Some more powerful ones had water floating around them, to use as a weapon itself, but either way they didn't seem to be doing much. 

Some trees had been completely destroyed, burned to ashes before the Aquantians were able to put it out. And the clearing itself wasn't meant to be there at all - it had been crafted by the wreckage, the dead flora creating a near barren landscape. This wasn't what Aquantur was supposed to be like. Aquantur was usually _thriving_ , with its vast, luscious vegetation. 

But it wasn't thriving. It was being destroyed. And the source of the chaos, the source of all Aquantur's troubles, was... 

Ah. So that was the problem. 

~*~ 

Remus sighed, now laying down in the sand, half buried. He threw a small pebble he'd found also buried in the sand up and down, occasionally failing to catch it and wincing as it landed on his face. 

"Remus, would you stop that?" Roman asked, agitated. 

"Nope." 

"Remus-" 

"Not listening." 

Logan snatched the pebble out the air. "You two, stop." 

Remus just grabbed another pebble from the sand and continued throwing it in the air. Roman and Logan both glared at him, but neither told him to stop. 

"Declan's been gone a while," Patton said, tentatively. 

"I'm sure he's fine," Logan said. 

"What if he got caught?" Virgil said, to which the group all tensed up at. 

"The guard is still there," Logan mentioned. "I'd imagine if he got caught, the guard would've been called." 

"But what if he got hurt?" Virgil's cloud was growing. 

"He's not hurt," Roman said, sounding absolutely certain. 

Remus' eyes drifted over to Logan. "Logan? Do the stars say anything?" 

Logan hummed, checking over his arms and legs and drawing something quickly. But eventually, he put his pen back down on the sand, sighing. "There's nothing to suggest that he's in trouble, but... nothing to suggest that he's doing well either." 

Roman lifted up his hands and summoned a small flame, throwing it back and forth between his palms. "He _is_ still walking on a broken leg. Maybe that's why he's taking a little longer." 

Remus shot up. "Why did we let him go in whilst he has a broken leg?" 

"We didn't," Logan said. "He did that himself." 

"His leg isn't broken," Patton said. "It should be fixed by now. It may just... hurt a little." 

"That isn't much better," Remus said, falling back down to the sand and continuing to throw his pebble. 

Roman stood up and let his fire grow, beginning to throw some flames into the air around him. The fires disappeared after a few seconds in the air, and he took extra care not to let them hit anything and start any actual fires. Eventually he took out his sword as well and combined the two together, fighting imaginary enemies with the flames dancing around the blade. 

Remus frowned. "Hey, since when could you make your sword be made out of fire?" 

"I can't," Roman said, still practising. "I can control the fire so it works with my sword but it's still just a sword." 

"You know what I meant," Remus said. "When did you learn to do that?" 

"With Declan," he replied. "It just sorta happened naturally when we were sparing one day. I don't do it loads 'cause I haven't got great control over it yet." 

"Oh." Remus hummed. "Alright." He returned to throwing and catching the pebble. 

Roman put his sword away and sat back down. 

"Do you mind if I take a look at your sword?" Logan requested. 

Roman frowned. "Why?" 

"Y'know." Logan shrugged. "For science." 

Roman's frown deepened. 

"I just want to see how your magic affected it," he clarified. "If you can do that, it's possible that we can use magic to increase the efficiency of weapons such as your own, or even begin to teach younger magic users aspiring to be soldiers to do it themselves. It's a theory that I've been reading up on, by someone from my hometown - about how magic can affect weapons and the like, particularly elemental magic, and-" 

"Yeah, okay, you can have my sword," Roman said, handing it over - mostly so that Logan would stop talking for a second and remember to breathe. 

"Thank you," Logan said, taking the sword and twisting it around in his hands. Every now and then, he'd put the sword down on his lap and jot something down on his arm, maybe connect a few stars, before eventually he returned the sword to Roman. "Interesting. The magic hasn't appeared to have any effect on the sword at all." 

Roman blinked. "Well, yeah, I did say that-" 

"But I believe that has something to do with the metal itself, as it seems to be repelling magic." He hummed. "I'll have to talk to them when I return to Nochae, I'm sure we can-" 

"Hey guys," Declan said, finally returning. There was an audible sigh of relief from the rest of the group. "I saw the problem."


	12. Chapter 12

"We can help," Logan told the guard, rushing home besides him. "We-" 

"Sir, I've already told you that there's no access to Aquantur right now," the guard said, calmly. 

"We can _help_ ," Logan repeated. "All six of us are trained warriors. One of us is one of the best knights of Denemuis, the _personal knight_ of _Prince Roman_ of Silvales." 

The guard frowned. "And?" 

" _We can help_ ," Logan insisted. "Please, just let us past, there's no way your soldiers can hold back the dragon any longer." 

The guard frowned. "How do you know about the dragon?" 

"Declan saw, just-" 

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to escort you-" 

In a fit of desperation, Logan knocked the guard to the side and rushed into the forest. He turned back for a second, motioning for the others to run after him, but never slowed down. Eventually Declan came up besides him, matching his pace and leading them to the danger. 

It was then that Logan realised the true severity of their situation. Several other guards were stationed around the beast, trying their best to hold it back but ultimately failing. A few laid on the ground, blue blood leaking onto the forest floor. Patton rushed over to each of the soldiers' sides, dragging them into a pile together and beginning to work their healing magic, whilst Roman, Declan and Remus rushed over to the other soldiers, barging past them to reach the dragon, a large reptilian creature with sea blue scales and thin wings extending from its back, light blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight, blinding white teeth that could undoubtedly pierce through skin. 

Logan glanced back at Virgil, who was staring up at the dragon, frozen in fear. 

"You go help Patton," Logan suggested. 

"I-" 

"Stay out of it for now. We'll call you if we need you." 

Virgil nodded, and went over to Patton's side. 

Logan closed his eyes and began to mutter a small incarnation. Stars began to swirl around him as he was lifted off the ground, his previously blue eyes turning a bright gold. He floated over above the dragon, watching the other three below fighting it off. Declan slashed at its legs, and Remus and Roman both threw whatever they had at the dragon, fire and poison shooting through the air. 

"Stay back," Logan warned the other soldiers. "Magicians, carry on spraying water. We'll handle the rest." 

The soldiers quickly followed Logan's instructions - why, Logan wasn't entirely sure, but he assumed it had something to do with the fact that he was floating twenty feet off the ground surrounded by a glowing light. 

He spun around to continue watching the others. Roman had begun to use his sword instead, with fire still floating around his head. Logan began to fight as well, thrusting his arms out and sending stars flying towards the dragon, in hopes that it would do something, anything to help. 

The dragon didn't seem to be affected, though. It continued to spray flames into the air, Logan occasionally having to dive out the way to avoid being hit. Remus' poison seemed to be beginning to chip away at its scales, at least, and a little bit of blood from its legs was dripping down onto the floor. He quickly glanced over at the other two - Patton was hard at work, whilst Virgil just continued staring, concerned, maybe trying to figure out how he could help. 

"Virgil!" Logan shouted, to which Virgil's head shot up to look at him. "Make a shadow, quickly. Distract the dragon." Patton had told him about Virgil's stunt the day before they left, how he had created a literal wall of darkness to protect Patton, and Logan hoped that Virgil could repeat that here. 

Virgil nodded once and rushed over, raising up his arms darkness began to rise from the ground, enveloping the dragon. Declan, Roman and Remus all took a step back, watching the shadow make the dragon seemingly disappear. 

Once the other three were a good distance away from the dragon, Logan shouted, "Now, everyone, fire!" 

And they did. 

Whilst Virgil continued to hold out his hands, maintaining the shadow trapping the dragon, the others all raised their own hands and let out as much magic as they could manage. 

A stream of fire, a beam of starlight, a spray of poison, a horde of flowers, and... a sword, apparently, thrown like a spear. 

Declan ducked down, turning invisible for a moment before appearing again at Virgil's side and grabbing hold of his shoulders, steadying his stance. The others all concentrated hard, as the beams merged and hit the dragon again and again. Slowly, the shadow sunk down, bringing the dragon with it, until there was an explosion of light and everything was over. 

Logan floated down to the ground, panting heavily, to join his friends, also all panting heavily. They regrouped around the dragon's remains, now reduced to just a few scales and a pile of ash. Logan collapsed to the floor. 

Patton rushed over to his side. "Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," Logan said, resting his elbow in his knee and holding his forehead. "Just asked a bit too much of the stars, I think." He had stopped glowing, now. 

"Hey, it's okay," Patton said, rubbing Logan's back. "We did it! The dragon's gone!" 

Logan nodded. "Yeah." He glanced up at the rest of the group, now gathered around him - save from Virgil, who still stood a little off to the side. "Great job, everyone." 

Some of the soldiers from before came over to their side, looking somewhere between confused and amazed. 

"Who are you guys?" one of the soldiers asked. 

"We're from the Academy," Patton quickly explained. "We were just heading through Aquantur and saw y'all were in trouble." 

The soldier frowned. "You shouldn't-" 

"There!" another voice shouted - the guard from before, pointing the group out to another, more important looking guard. "They're the ones that attacked me and broke into the forest-" 

"Hey, it's okay," the other soldier said, standing between the group and the guard. "They just killed that dragon." 

"They... what?" 

"We killed the dragon!" Patton said, beaming. 

The guard's mouth hung wide open. Eventually, he turned back, returning to his post.

Patton looked back at the group. "Is anyone injured?" he asked. 

Nobody responded. 

Patton turned to the soldier. "Any of y'all?" 

"You've already healed all the injured people," the soldier said. "You've healed the ones that should've _died_ , so-" 

"Oh," Patton said. "Yeah, of course." They turned back to their friends. "Our work here is done, I guess?" 

"Just a few more moments, please," Logan requested, his face now buried in his hands. 

"Take as long as you guys need here," the soldier said. "We should all head back to our posts, anyway. Thank you for the help. You can keep the scales, if you want." 

Patton blinked. “Why would we-" 

"I'm taking the scales," Logan decided. "Unless you guys have any objections." 

They didn't. Or if they did, Logan didn't give them a chance to say. 

"Good." 

The soldiers all gradually went away, leaving the group alone in the clearing. One by one, they also all sat down, until it was just Virgil standing. 

"Hey, Pat-" 

"Yeah, Virge?" 

"Can I talk to you?" 

"Of course?" 

Virgil smiled weakly, before beginning to walk out of the clearing, a little deeper into the forest. Frowning a little, Patton followed him. 

"Are you alright?" Patton asked, as Virgil came to a stop. 

"Y-Yeah, I just..." He sat down on a rock at the base of a tree, with Patton quickly doing the same. "That was a lot." 

Patton glanced at Virgil with slight concern. He looked pale, and tense, shaky. His hands were buried in his pockets, and his shoulders were hunched over, as he stared at a spot on the ground. 

"Are you hurt?" Patton asked. 

Virgil shook his head. "No, I don't think so." 

"Ill?" 

"No." 

"You look a little pale." 

"That was a lot," Virgil repeated. "I... I don't think I've ever used that much magic before." 

"You did amazing, though," Patton encouraged, moving their hands up and gently rubbing Virgil's back - he didn't object, so Patton continued, moving his fingers in a soothing, swirling pattern. "We never would've taken that dragon down if it weren't for you." 

"You could've," Virgil said. "I... You've all been infected now." 

Patton frowned. "Infected?" 

"With my magic," he continued. "The darkness... You all..." 

"You haven't _infected_ us, Virgil," Patton said, shuffling closer. "I don't... We don't know much about your magic, but I'm sure that you didn't do any harm by just combining your magic with ours-" 

"I have, though," he argued. "In the past. Back home. Whenever... Whenever my magic merged with _anybody_ , they were always hurt." 

Patton shook their head. "Virgil, you were _young_. Maybe you didn't realise. But you're older now. Your magic won't hurt anybody unless you have intent. Do you have intent?" 

Virgil blinked. "Well, no, but-" 

"So we'll all be fine," Patton said, smiling. "You'll be fine. You did a _great_ job. We've been trying to do that kind of thing before, but we've never had your kind of magic." 

Virgil looked up at them. Patton noticed that his eyes were kind of red, and they made a mental note to give him a long, tight hug once this conversation was over. "My kind of magic?" 

"The wall thing," Patton said. "It's... It's something that Logan read up on. Creating a sort of shield or barrier and then shooting it with various types of combat magic. We've tried to replicate the shield before with all of our magic, but we haven't found a combination that works yet. But... Well, as soon as Logan learned that you could do that he was eager to try it out as soon as possible." 

"Huh." Virgil glanced down. "So... I'm helpful?" 

"Of course you're helpful!" Patton exclaimed. "Gods, if we had had you in our other quests things would've been so much easier-" 

Virgil smiled. "Thanks." 

Patton frowned. "Why thanks?" 

Virgil shrugged. "Just... thanks." 

Patton hummed. "Well, I don't quite understand why you're thanking me, but you are welcome. Now, hugs?" 

Virgil grinned. "Hugs." 

Patton wrapped their arms around Virgil, and Virgil melted into them, resting his head on their shoulders. A small smile spread across Patton's face as they tightened their grip on Virgil, still rubbing his back in those circular motions from before. Their fingers brushed against a petal as they did so, and they realised that flowers had begun to sprout on Virgil's back. Upon realising this, Patton drew away, to which Virgil looked somewhat disappointed. 

"Sorry, uh, some flowers-"

"It's okay," Virgil said, as if he had already noticed the flowers. "Your flowers are good, right?" 

Patton nodded. "Usually, yeah, but-" 

"So it's fine," Virgil said. "My cloud isn't here." 

Patton glanced down to the ground, noticing that, yeah, the cloud wasn't there. 

"Is that bad?" they asked. 

Virgil shook his head. "I don't think so. I feel fine. And it'll come back. I'm just... I think this means I'm happy, right now." 

Patton did not want to delve into the implications that statement brought, as the thought of Virgil being unhappy whenever the cloud was around - which was basically all of the time - made Patton themself upset. Instead, they just dragged Virgil in for another hug and continued to let their flowers grow over Virgil's body. Virgil began to replicate Patton's pattern on their own back, to which Patton had to hold back a squeal of delight. 

A warmth spread between the two of them, a warmth that Patton had never really experienced before. They often felt _something_ when they cast their magic, a slight tingling in their chest, a happy feeling, a warm feeling, and this was almost like that, but... stronger. So much stronger. Patton felt that, in that moment, they could do anything. Even the impossible. 

They were doing magic, they supposed, so it made sense for them to be feeling that feeling. With every new flower sprouting around them, Patton felt stronger, greater, happier. And Virgil seemed to be enjoying it more and more as well. By the time they reluctantly pulled away, the area all around them had been filled with flowers, not just Virgil's body but the forest floor and the trees as well. 

Patton took hold of Virgil's hand. "We should get back to the group." 

It was then that Virgil's cloud began to grow back. 

"Yeah, of course," he said, squeezing Patton's hand. 

Patton smiled and stood up, leading Virgil back to the clearing. Their hands refused to let go.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: ptsd (flashbacks), nightmares

By the time that Patton and Virgil returned, Logan had already begun to set up camp, as the sun slowly began to set over the trees. Declan and Roman had gone off again, presumably sparing, which left Remus with Logan. 

He sat cross legged on the floor as he watched Logan pin up some tents, humming a tune under his breath. He had offered to help Logan, but Logan refused to let him touch anything, for fear that he'd somehow set it on fire, or something. 

"I'm not going to explode anything!" Remus argued. "That's _Roman's_ job, not mine!" 

Logan closed his eyes and sighed. "That isn't what I'm worried about, Remus." 

"I'm not going to spray any acid on the tents either, Logan," Remus promised. "I just want to help!" 

"I'm not worried about your poison, either. I'm just concerned because _last_ time you tried to set up a tent, it fell down in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm and we almost died," Logan explained. 

"It's not my fault there was a thunderstorm!" 

"But it _was_ your fault that the tents weren't put up correctly." 

Remus groaned. " _Please_ let me help." 

"I'm sorry, Remus-" 

"I'm _bored_." 

Logan finished pinning a string and stood up, turning to face Remus. "If you want to help so bad, go collect some firewood, build a campfire, and get your brother to light it. But do not, under any circumstances, come near the tents." 

Remus grinned. "Okay! I can do that!" He jumped up to his hooves and began to head out of the clearing. 

"Try not to get any acid on the sticks!" Logan shouted after him.

"I won't!" 

His grin growing even larger, he pranced through the forest, picking up sticks as he went, and allowed himself to just go wild. Gods, he missed this. He missed being able to just run amok in a forest, missed having even a tiny bit of purpose in his life. It was almost like the forest back home in Silvales - slightly less magical, of course, but still a forest, at least. 

He had to stop himself a couple of times before falling into various streams, which seemed to just come out of nowhere. Eventually, he turned back and realised he couldn't even see the clearing, so he must have gone a fair bit out. He glanced down at his hands, noticing that he'd gathered a somewhat large pile, and smiled, beginning to head back. 

It was then that he heard whispers through the trees. 

Frowning, Remus slowly moved towards the noise, trying his best not to make a sound. He hid behind a tree and peered around it, looking through the leaves at two people, talking with a sense of urgency. He didn't recognise any of the people, but... 

"-killed the dragon," one said. 

"They _what_?" replied the other. 

"They killed it," she repeated, sounding rather... scared. Or frustrated. Worried. "Easily, as well. The Aquantian soldiers have been trying to fight back for days, and these people just come and _kill_ it in less than fifteen minutes." 

Remus jumped back, finding it slightly more difficult to breathe. They were talking about _him_. The group. His friends. And they didn't seem entirely pleased about it, either. 

He looked back around the tree, trying to get a better look at the two talking. They didn't look Aquantian, that was for sure. Unless they were using some sort of magic to hide themselves, maybe similar to Declan's abilities, but Remus doubted that - why would an Aquantian need to disguise themselves when they were _in_ Aquantur, especially during this time when only Aquantians were allowed inside the border. 

The woman had a tattoo on her arm - that was the only thing that Remus could see for certain. It was all red, a somewhat simple design of wings sprouting out of a central flame, with swirls sweeping out and down the rest of her arm. Remus could have sworn that he recognised it from some- 

Oh. 

_Embers danced in the air around them. They were on the ground, staring at the smoky sky, and half-convinced that they were about to die._

_They weren't, surely. They were strong. They were good at staying alive - they'd been doing it for this long, so why would now be any different? Just because the fight wasn't going as well as planned._

_It wasn't the end of the world. Well, it might have been if they failed this mission, but it wasn't the end of Remus' world. They had friends. They had backup who could help them. Patton was close by, they were sure-_

_A woman towered above them, grinning. It was Remus' least favourite kind of grin - a pure evil grin. No joy, no excitement, no playfulness. Just a straight-up sign of death._

_And for a moment, Remus could feel her talons tear into their skin, a thick liquid now running down their arm, until they could feel no longer. And soon after they blacked out, a final image of that winged fire tattoo in their mind._

Remus rushed back into camp, tripping over one of the strings holding up the tents. Their sticks flew up into the air, landing in a pile in the middle of the clearing, as Remus' head landed in the dirt. They could already hear Logan shouting at them - not angry (although he should be, since Remus imagined that they'd just knocked down the tent), but rather concerned. 

Remus twisted over on their side so they were staring at the sky, breathing heavily. They considered wiping the mud off their face but decided against it as their arms refused to budge. 

"Dragon Witch," they said. 

Logan frowned. He was now sat besides them, apparently ignoring the now fallen tent. "What happened?" 

"Dragon Witch," Remus repeated, with more desperation. "In the forest. She was- She was talking about us-" 

"A Dragon Witch?" 

"Yeah." Remus sat up. "She- She knows what happened with the dragon. I- I think she sent it..." 

The others had gathered around now too, and Remus just wanted them all to go away. They only needed to tell Logan this. Logan would know what to do - the others would just worry, or get mad at _them_. 

"Are you sure-" 

"She had the tattoo," Remus said. "The Dragon Witch tattoo. I swear to all the gods, she..." 

"Did she see you?" Declan asked. 

Remus shook their head. "I don't think so." 

"The Dragon Witches aren't that dumb," Logan said, standing back up. 

"She _is_ here, I'm not lying," Remus defended. 

"They're right, Remus wouldn't lie about this," Declan said. 

"No, I mean, she wouldn't come to the camp," Logan said. "Assuming that is what you were worried about. She knows that we're here, but she won't attack, not yet. If she saw us take on the dragon, she knows we'll be able to take on her." 

"I'll keep guard, anyway," Declan said. 

"Absolutely not," Patton chimed in. "I know you’ve said you feel better, but the fact remains that your leg is not quite finished healing yet. You need rest." 

"Yes," Roman agreed. "I can keep guard." 

"You're the heir to the throne of Silvales, Roman," Logan said. "A primary target for the Dragon Witches. You're not keeping guard." 

"I'll do it," Virgil said. 

Logan glanced at Virgil. "Are you sure?" 

"Yeah," Virgil confirmed. "I mean, they don't know me. I'm not really at risk. And I never really sleep a lot, anyway." 

"Alright, if you say so," Logan said. "I'm more than willing to stay up with you, of course, or even take shifts-" 

"Nah, it's cool," Virgil said. "You can get some sleep." 

At this point, the sun had set, and the moon was beginning to rise into the sky. Trying not to think too much, Remus gathered their bundle of sticks back up and began to build a small campfire, which Roman soon lit with his fire magic. After a brief break for food, cooked by Logan and eaten in a somewhat comfortable silence, they made their way into their respective tents - Declan and Roman sharing one, Logan and Remus heading into another, and Patton staying outside a little longer with Virgil, both sat close to the fire. 

Remus laid down on the ground, staring at the ceiling of the tent. They felt the warmth of Logan's body as he snuggled in besides them, also laying on his back. 

"Are you sure you're doing alright?" Logan asked. 

"Yeah," Remus replied, a little too quickly. "Just a lot on my mind." 

Logan hummed. "Emotional stuff?" 

Remus hesitated. "No. Not really." 

"Oh, good." Logan turned over so he was on his side. "Want to talk about it?" 

Remus turned to face him as well, blushing slightly at the close proximity but remaining calm. "I'm not sure." 

"You don't have to," Logan said, "but I've read that it is beneficial for a person to talk out their thoughts when going through something. I don't know how much I'll be able to help, but just letting it out may make you feel a little better." 

Remus sighed. "No, yeah, you're right. I..." They bit their lip. "I had a flashback, I think." 

Logan frowned. "What do you mean?" 

"Like-" They turned again so they laid on their back. "When I saw that tattoo, it was like I was _there_ , y'know?" 

Logan was silent for a moment. "Oh." 

"Like, I know last time wasn't the _first_ time that we fought a Dragon Witch, but... but it was the first time that we came close to losing." 

Logan slowly reached down for Remus' hand, stroking their palm gently. "We didn't come close to losing. We did great." 

" _I_ didn't, though. She got me down, and-" 

"Patton healed you," Logan said. "You're fine." 

Remus nodded. "Yeah, of course I am, I just..." He turned his head. "What if she hadn't got my arm? What if it'd been something else?" 

"Patton would have healed you either way," Logan promised. "As soon as we could, we got the Dragon Witch off you. I know you were unconscious at the time, but I _assure_ you that we took care of you whilst the fight was going, and that immediately after Patton got to work on healing you." 

"I-I know." Remus sighed. "I just... I wonder, sometimes. She could have tried to take me. I know I'm not as valuable to them as Roman, but..." They trailed off. 

Logan squeezed Remus' hand. "You should get some sleep." 

"Yeah, I should." Remus squeezed Logan's hand back, refusing to let go. 

"Goodnight, Remus," Logan said. "If you have any troubles in the night please don't hesitate to wake me up." 

Remus forced out a smile. "Okay. Goodnight." They closed their eyes. 

_Everything was dark. They could hear muffled voices around them, feel fingers prodding them, and taste blood in their mouth. Everything was weird, not quite real. They weren't even sure_ they _were real._

_They had been injured badly, hadn't they? There had been blood everywhere. And usually they thought that was cool, so this must be bad. Especially since they weren't awake._

_But it was too much. All of it was too much._

_"Remus?"_

_Fingers wouldn't stop prodding their shoulder._

_"Remus?"_

_Maybe they didn't_ want _to wake up. They didn't want to go back there._

_"Remus!"_

_Remus' eyes shot open, to see Logan leaning over them, looking concerned._

"Remus?" 

"What-" 

Their face was wet, and after a moment they realised they were crying. 

"You-" 

Remus threw their arms around Logan and dragged him down. Without a second thought, Logan hugged back, clinging on tightly, allowing Remus to bury their head in his shoulder and just let it out. 

And Remus didn't have to say why. Logan wasn't going to ask them - maybe Logan already knew. But they were safe with Logan, weren't they? Logan wouldn't say anything. Logan wouldn't think anything of it. 

Remus refused to let go of Logan, even after he fell back asleep. Soon after, Remus drifted back to sleep as well, into a peaceful, dreamless night.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: feeling faint/in pain

The morning sun sparkled on the rivers surface as the group walked along, after their full nights rest - asides from Virgil, of course, but he seemed to be faring well anyway. Patton walked besides him, flowers sprouting in the path behind with every step they took. 

"You okay, Virge?" Patton asked, bumping his shoulder slightly. 

Virgil gave them a small smile. "Yeah, of course." 

They hummed. "Hey, you still have a few flowers left." 

He blinked. "Oh, do I?" 

"Do you want me to take them off yet?" Patton asked. 

Virgil shook his head. "No, it's fine. They can come off when they're ready, right?" 

Patton grinned. "Yeah, of course!" 

They stared at the flowers for a moment longer, happy to see even a little bit of colour of Virgil. He did have a little bit of purple on his jacket's design, but Patton couldn't help but notice that the majority of his outfit was black. 

"Hey, have you ever considered dying your hair?" Patton wondered. 

Virgil hummed in thought. "Yeah, actually. Always been too scared of what people'll think, though." 

"I could dye it for you!" Patton offered. "I actually make a lot of dye myself, I used to sell it sometimes back in Lanamia." 

"Is your hair dyed?" Virgil asked. 

"Nah, this is natural," Patton said. Perhaps that was one of the many reasons people assumed they were a fairy. They weren't, of course. They were a nature spirit of some sorts, not quite sure exactly what, but _not_ a fairy. "I used to dye it blue sometimes, though. Or make it a mixture of both." 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Now _that_ is something I'd like to see." 

Patton giggled. "It isn't great for my hair, I don't really have the same kind of hair you do. Yours would be fine, though. My dye shouldn't be harmful, at least." 

"Shouldn't?" Virgil repeated, skeptically. 

"I mean, I don't know if your magic will affect it, but I doubt it will." They smiled. "You seem to be getting better at controlling it, anyway. It hasn't affected the flowers at-" 

_Oh._ Black spread across one of the white petals, across all five of the petals on that one flower. _Oh no._ Patton's vision went hazy. The black wasn't slowing down, and it seemed to be spreading out to the other flowers as well. They felt a sharp pain in this side, cringing a little as they stumbled to the side, putting a hand against the stone cliff. 

Virgil stopped and turned around, looking at Patton. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice muffled. 

Patton tried to nod, but they were afraid that it didn't show. Their body was beginning to heat up, kind of, with sweat now lining their forehead. The next moment, they were sat on the ground, and the rest of the group was beginning to crowd around them, and all they could do was sit with their head in their hands. 

"Are they-" 

"-some water-" 

"-hurry-" 

"-what's going-" 

They could only pick up fragments of the conversation around them. They glanced to the side, noticing that those black flowers were now on the ground, slowly disintegrating. They felt another sharp pain in their side, this time harsher. They tried to breathe. 

Something cold was pressed against their forehead, and they grabbed hold, holding it in place tightly and refusing to let go. They tried to breath, again. In and out. In and out. Their breath was shallow, and it sometimes hurt, but they knew they needed to breathe. 

After a few moments, everything went back to normal. They placed a damp cloth on the floor next to them - that must be the cold thing they were handed - and tried to stand up again, their legs quickly crumbling. 

Virgil was leant down besides them. "Pat?" 

"I'm okay," they insisted. 

"You're clearly not okay," Logan said. 

"Shut up, Logan," Virgil said, moving closer to Patton. "Don't listen to him. You are okay, right?" 

"Yeah," Patton said. "I'm- I'm fine. Just got a little bit dizzy." They grinned. "Nothing to worry about!" 

There was a lot to worry about, actually. Patton had no idea where that had come from, but it couldn't have been good. It wasn't the _first_ time that had happened to them, but it was the first time that it had come out of nowhere. They couldn't help but feel like something was _off_. But there was no way that they were gonna admit that to the rest of the group. 

"You did eat breakfast this morning, correct?" Logan asked, moving around Virgil and crouching down as well. "And you've drunk plenty of water?" 

"Yes and yes," Patton confirmed, trying to stand up again. They struggled a little, still, but Virgil grabbed their arm and helped them up. Once they were back to their feet, everything was back to normal, aside from a lingering headache which didn't really affect them much anyway. 

"Be careful," Logan said. "What actually happened?" 

"I told you, I just got a little dizzy," Patton said. "I promise, it was nothing. Maybe it was just the change in climate." 

The others could probably tell that they were bullshitting, but at that point Patton didn't really care. As long as they knew not to worry. Patton could figure it out for themself. 

Logan hummed. "Did you sleep last night?" 

"Yup," Patton said, beginning to walk again. The rest of the group followed suit, and they continued making their way down the river. 

"Alright," Logan said. "When we get to the next inn, make sure you get some rest, and drink plenty of liquids, okay?" 

"Got it, boss!" Patton said, saluting in a half-joking manner. Logan gave them a small smile in return, before returning to the front of the group whilst Patton fell back, coming back besides Virgil. 

"What happened?" Virgil whispered. 

Patton looked ahead. "I got dizzy." 

"What _actually_ happened?" 

"I... don't know." Patton glanced down at their feet. "Everything went weird all of a sudden. Everything was, like, blurry, and I couldn't really hear. And I got really hot and dizzy and needed to sit down." They shrugged. "It's probably nothing, though." 

"That isn't _nothing_ , Patton," Virgil said, his voice filled with concern. 

"It's fine," Patton said. "Just got a little faint. Happens all the time." 

"That doesn't-" 

"I don't want to talk about it," Patton snapped, quickly shutting Virgil up. Immediately after, they felt bad, noticing how Virgil stood away and avoided further eye contact. "Sorry, just... need time to think about it." 

Virgil breathed in. "That's okay." 

"Can we just walk?" Patton asked. 

"Of course." Virgil shoved his hands in his pockets, looking ahead and staying quiet from there on. 

~*~ 

They arrived at the inn around noon. It was an old building, built in cobblestone, with a wooden sign reading 'The Tahlia Inn' and ivy growing up the walls. In front of the building there was a fountain, a couple children running around it and a couple water spirits fluttering around the surface. There was also a general seating area around the fountain, where a few Aquantian couples sat and watched their kids, and a few groups of Aquantian teenagers sat around talking with their mates. 

As Logan went inside the building to announce their arrival and sort out paperwork, Patton went over to the fountain and sat on the side, letting a few of the water spirits land on them and crawl over their skin. They felt an immediate connection with the nature spirits, and smiled down at them, feeling a lot better than earlier. Maybe the problem was that they needed to reconnect. Maybe they'd been too far away from their magic. 

Virgil sat down besides them whilst the twins and Declan ran off somewhere else. "What's that?" he asked, pointing down to Patton's arm. 

"Oh! These are water spirits," Patton said, holding his arm up to let Virgil take a better look. They were small, just bigger than the size of a firefly. They were somewhat humanoid, but with blue skin and long, thin, almost translucent wings. One looked up at Virgil, leaning down to get a better look, and sprayed some water in his face. Virgil moved, wiping his eyes and giggling a little. 

"Are they, like, fairies, or something?" Virgil asked. 

"Nah, nothing like fairies," Patton said. "A lot of people confuse them for fairies, though. Some people call these guys sprites, but water spirits work fine for them too." 

"Woah." Virgil smiled. 

"We get a lot of them in Lanamia," Patton said. "Not so much water spirits, but a lot of tree spirits, flower spirits, all of that stuff. I think there are some fire spirits native to Ignebris, too, but that's just a rumour. I do sometimes see something fluttering around campfires though, so maybe there is." 

"They're beautiful," Virgil said with wonder. 

Patton looked over at him. "Have you never seen a spirit before?" 

Virgil shook his head. "Therba is boring." 

"There's a couple in the woods back at the Academy," Patton mentioned. 

Virgil shrugged. "I don't explore a lot." 

"Ah." Patton looked back at their watching, watching two spirits dance with one another. "When we get back, I'll show you. There's a whole family of flower spirits that live in the forest, I'm sure they'd love to meet you." 

Virgil frowned. "Can they understand us?" 

Patton hummed. "Kinda. They have their own language, and I don't know how much they understand of ours. They tend to understand local languages, though. The ones at the Academy speak Lanamian. I'd imagine these one can speak Aquantian." 

They lowered their arm and allowed the spirits to flutter back to the fountain, watching them now dance across the surface of the water. Their moves created swirling ripples across the surface, drawing a beautiful pattern that Patton couldn't help but admire. 

"These guys are really important to us - Lanamians, I mean." They tapped their leg. "A lot of our magic is sourced from spirits, so we kinda have to keep them safe, y'know? Otherwise we'd all be in major trouble." 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Major trouble how?" 

"We just... well, we wouldn't have our powers." Patton shrugged. "I don't know. I'd imagine some people would find it difficult to survive without magic." 

Virgil hummed. "Therba gets on fine." 

"Therba isn't Lanamia." Patton stared down into the water. "Lanamia is _filled_ with magic. These guys help to carry it around, I guess. Or make more. And magic powers _everything_ in Lanamia. Without it, our society would crumble." 

"Oh." Virgil looked down as well. "I... can't even imagine that." 

Patton looked up, staring Virgil in the eye. "I'm gonna take you to Lanamia one day, y'know. You'd love it there. Sprites all around." They grinned. 

Virgil smiled back. "Yeah, that'll be great." 

For a few moments, Patton continued smiling at Virgil, a sense of peace between them, until Patton stood up. "Well, we should go check on Logan." 

Virgil seemed somewhat disappointed about that, but didn't let Patton know. "Yeah, we probably should." He stood up as well and followed Patton into the building, where they found the rest of the group sat at a table near the front, including Logan. They went to sit down. 

"We're all checked in," Logan announced. "We're sharing a room, but I've been told there's a bed each, and if we need some space they've given us the keys to the barns out back." 

"Great," Patton said. 

"Of course we shouldn't have to sleep for a while," Logan said, "since we're barely into the afternoon, but there's plenty to do around here as well. There's a small market down the road from here if any of you want to check that out, and I believe there's a clearing just south of the inn if any of you require space for training." That last statement seemed to be directed at Roman and Declan. 

"What time are we leaving tomorrow?" Remus asked. 

"As soon as possible," Logan said. "It should take the full day to get to the Outpost, so the earlier we leave the better." 

"Gotcha." 

"Well," Logan said, "if there's no more questions, you guys are free to go do whatever you want."


	15. Chapter 15

Logan poked at the dragon scale, watching it shimmer from a dark blue to a light blue then back again. Every now and then he jotted something down on a piece of parchment the Innkeeper had given him. The others had all dispersed, most likely heading down to the market - Logan didn't really care where the group went, as long as they were ready to leave by the morning. 

So, naturally, he had decided to use this alone time to study the scales he'd taken from that dragon, in hopes that it would help them understand their enemy better. If it was true that the dragon was sent by Ignebris, Logan could assume that there would be more of its kind, and he could use the scales to figure out better ways of stopping them. 

It would've helped if he had a book on dragons - he maybe could've deciphered exactly what type of dragon they were dealing with - but he doubted there would be any books such as that around. Maybe it was best to wait until he could go back to the Academy, so he could research properly... 

He gathered the scales up into a bag and made his way to the bar, standing with one arm leaning on the counter. The barmaid glanced over at him, before making her way over. 

"You're a little far from Nochae," she said, leaning over the counter. There weren't many other people in the building, aside from a family of Aquantians sitting by and having a late lunch, so he supposed it made sense that the barmaid would attempt to start up a conversation. Logan wasn't exactly protesting. 

"I came from the Academy," Logan said. "On business." 

"Ah." The barmaid smirked. "So, what, you're on a quest?" 

Logan hummed. "I suppose you could call it that." 

"I'm Valerie," the barmaid introduced. 

Logan smiles politely. "Logan." 

"So," Valerie said, "where are you heading?" 

"I'm afraid that's classified." 

"Oh." Valerie pushed herself up, now standing straight. "So, did you want something?" 

"Just a glass of water, please," Logan requested. 

Valerie nodded and went to fetch a cup, quickly returning. Logan began to drink. 

"Is it just you?" 

"No, I have some... friends with me," Logan said. 

"Other Nochees?" she wondered. 

Logan shook his head. "No. We've got a couple from Silvales, a Lamanian, a Denemi, and a Therban." 

"Wow." Valerie raised an eyebrow. "People from all over, huh?" 

"That's the Academy for you," Logan said. "I mean, you must get people from all over as well, right?" 

Valerie shook her head. "Nah. We mostly get Aquantian families. It's kinda boring." She poured herself out a cup of water. "I'd love to do what you do, though. Get out and see the world." 

Logan chuckled. "Trust me, you don't. It's not as fun as it sounds." 

Valerie hummed. "How so?" 

"Well, just in the past few days we've had one member of the team break his leg, another very nearly faint - I assume, something like that - and all of us very nearly killed by a dragon." He shrugged. 

Valerie stared at him in wonder. "Wait, did you fight a _dragon_?" 

"Yes." Logan pulled the scales out of his pocket. "Here, we got these from the wreckage." 

Valerie looked down at the scales, eyes glimmering in excitement. She picked one up - making Logan cringe just a tiny bit as she contaminated his samples - and twisted it around in her fingers. "So, what, you took these off the corpse?" 

"Well." Logan hummed. "There wasn't exactly a corpse. These scales were all that remained." 

"Woah." 

"Do you happen to know anything about dragons?" Logan asked. 

Valerie hummed. "My mother used to tell me about them. I've... read a little. Always wanted to meet one." 

"Trust me, you do not want to meet one," Logan said. "But, you said you've read up on them?" 

"Uh huh." 

"Do you, by chance, have any idea what kind of scales these are?" he inquired. 

Valerie frowned. "No. Sorry." 

Logan sighed. "That's alright." 

"I do know what you can do with them, though," Valerie said.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?" 

"Um, do you mind if I take a couple?" she asked. 

Logan shoved a couple towards her, putting the rest back into the bag and then in his pocket. 

Valerie grinned. "Thank you!" She hummed. "I also need a couple plants. There's some growing in the field behind the inn, let me just..." She wandered off to the other side of the bar, before returning with a book and opening up to a few pages in. "I need this and this," she said, pointing to each flower. "Would you mind going to collect some for me?" 

Logan nodded. "I'll go straight away. I trust that you aren't going to blow up the inn with those scales I've given you." 

She laughed, but said nothing, which was only a little concerning to Logan. 

"Alright, well, I shouldn't be long." 

He walked out the inn, carrying the book with him, and headed down to the field. He saw Roman and Declan in the distance, sparing again, with Remus sat to the side watching. The other two were nowhere to be seen - probably at the market, then. He hoped that Patton was doing okay, especially after the incident earlier in the day. 

Logan went along the perimeter of the field, looking around for the flowers Valerie had requested. This was proving to be a lot harder than Logan had originally thought, given the vast amount of quite similar looking flowers. This wasn't exactly his strong suit, either. 

One of the flowers was purple, with tiny specks of gold, and the other was a vibrant blue. Most of the flowers he could see were red or orange, and the few blue flowers he saw were not of the correct design - different shape, different petals. And not a single purple flower in sight. 

Sighing, he sat down in the flower bed, thinking that maybe it would be easier to find them if he was closer to their level. Or, well, that was his excuse - really, he was just beginning to give up. 

"Logan!" a voice proclaimed, just before something slammed into his body and he fell to the floor. Freaking out just a tiny bit - okay, maybe a lot - he tried to squirm out of the attackers grasp, ultimately failing and considering reaching for his quill and stabbing the attacker. That was, until he realised it was just Remus, now embracing him in a tight hug. 

"Remus, you're hurting me-" 

Remus just squeezed tighter. "I missed you." 

Pushing Remus off him, Logan finally broke free, as Remus giggled and moved to just sit besides him. "It's been an hour," Logan said. 

"I _missed you_ ," Remus repeated. "What are you doing?" 

Logan sighed and showed Remus the book. "Looking for these." 

Remus gasped. "Oh, what are they?" 

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure," Logan said. "They're flowers of some kind. The text is written in a language I can't read." 

Remus frowned as their eyes skimmed over the page. "This is written in an ancient Silvalan language." 

Logan's head shot towards them. "Can you read it?" 

"I recognise a few words, but..." 

"Can you _try_?" Logan pleaded. 

Remus nodded. "Yeah, uhm..." They point to one word. "This one here, _pëatlé_ , means flower, so you're right on that. And that-" They pointed to another word. " _-dalica_ , means dragon. Huh." 

Logan hummed. "The barmaid needed these flowers to do something with those dragon scales." 

Remus skimmed over the rest of the page, before looking up at Logan. "Okay, so, from what I can gather, they both have a sort of... reaction with dragon scales. I think they have magical properties, or something. Oh, also the blue one glows and only grows in the dark." 

Although very intrigued but Remus' first tangent, Logan tried to focus on the last statement. "The dark. So, what, do we have to wait for nighttime?" 

Remus shook their head. "I don't think so. We just... need to find somewhere shaded." They glanced around, before pointing somewhere in the distance. "There looks to be a sort of cave there. Maybe..." 

They stood up and began to walk in that direction, with Logan quickly getting up as well and following. He did a little jog to catch up with Remus, then walked by their side. Soon enough the two reached the cave that Remus had pointed out - one that Logan had failed to even consider to be a place where flowers may grow. The two stepped inside, with Logan raising his hand and producing a small, glowing star to act as a light. Out the corner of his eye, he saw something sink into the ground. 

"Turn the light off," Remus ordered. "You'll scare them away." 

Logan did as told, and let his arm drop to his side. Almost immediately, whatever had sunk into the ground rose back up. Flowers lined the perimeter of the cave, glowing a vibrant blue. 

Remus grinned and hopped over to one, bending down and picking it off the ground. They turned around and reached their arm out to Logan, allowing him to take the flower. 

"One down, one to go," Remus said. 

Logan smiled. "Yes. Thank you, Remus." 

"Now, the purple one..." They walked back out the cave, Remus talking the book from Logan's hand and continuing to read. "I don't... I don't know most of these words. They're more vague about it, I think." 

Logan hummed. "Can I have a look?" 

"Sure." They handed Logan the book. 

Logan stared down at the writing, frowning. The letters meant nothing to him. And the image wasn't that helpful either. He hated the fact that he didn't understand any of this. 

"Any luck?" Remus asked. 

Logan shook his head. "This honestly makes no sense to me." 

Remus took the book back. "Maybe your arm can help." 

"Oh!" Logan took out his pen. "Yeah, of course..." He lifted his arm and began to draw, creating a sequence of symbols he didn't recognise. 

Remus looked down at his arm, humming. "That's Ancient Silvalan as well." 

"Can you read it?" 

They frowned. "Uh, something about a tree?" 

Logan glanced back at the forest behind them, and then turning around, heading towards the trees. It didn't take him long to find a purple flower at the base of a tree. He grinned and picked on up. "Got it!" 

Remus came up besides him, swinging their arms out his shoulder. "We did it!" 

Logan looked at the flowers in his hand, noticing a few sparkling particles floating around them. "Back to the inn now, then." 

"Can I come?" Remus asked. 

Logan blinked. "I mean, I can't stop you." 

"Yay!" They began to walk back to the inn, essentially dragging Logan with them as their arm remained around his shoulders. Logan had to admit that it was a lot harder to walk like that, but nevertheless the two stumbled back without any protests. 

Logan made his way up to the bar, where he saw a glass of... some sort of liquid, possibly water sat on the counter, with the dragon scales floating inside. Bubbles emerged from the scales, and some of the colour bled out, causing the liquid to turn a light shade of blue. 

"Oh, Logan!" Valerie stepped towards the counter. "Did you get them?" 

"I did," Logan said, handing the two flowers to Valerie. 

"Brilliant." She took the flowers from Logan's hands and crouched down below the bar, popping back up with a pestle and mortar in hand. She began to tear the petals off the flower and place them in mortar, along with a couple extra dragon scales and what looked to be rocks, although Logan couldn't quite tell. 

"What are they?" Logan wondered. 

"Hmm?" Valerie said, beginning to mash the ingredients together. 

"Those rock-like things," Logan clarified. 

"Oh! These _are_ actually rocks," Valerie stated. "They're from Tahlia Falls. The water there gave them magical properties. But mostly they're just used to... soak up the magic from the flowers, I suppose you could say." 

"Interesting." Logan thought back to his study on Tahlia Falls, but couldn't recall hearing about magical rocks. He was aware that Tahlia Falls was a primary source of magic for the Aquantians, so he supposed it made sense for the water itself to have magical properties, but he had absolutely no idea that that magic could spread to the contents of the lake. 

Once Valerie was finished mashing them together, she slowly poured the mixture into the solution, and Logan watched as the blue tint grew more vibrant and the bubbles grew more vicious. Sparks emitted from the water, creating a miniature fireworks display, causing Logan to step back with caution and Remus to step forward with excitement. 

But after a while it calmed down, leaving a vibrant blue liquid, which Valerie took and poured into several different vials, placing them all down on the bar in front of Logan. 

"Tada!" she said, displaying the bottles. 

Logan hummed. "Are they some kind of potion?" 

Valerie shrugged. "I guess you could call them that. Drinking them will give you more magic. Specific kinds of magic, I guess. I'm not entirely sure what these ones will do, since we don't know what kind of dragon it was, but..." She shoved them towards Logan. "I'd imagine they'd come in handy for your quest. If you ever need a little extra magic." 

Logan picked up one bottle, bringing it up to his face and turning it around. "I'll have to study it. See what it does." 

"Of course!" Valerie grinned. "Do whatever you want with it. But be careful. Some I've made in the past have exploded, but they were scales from, y'know, more explosive dragons, so..." 

"I'll take extra care," Logan promised. "Thank you, Valerie. Do I owe you anything?" 

Valerie shook her head. "It's no problem." 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" 

"I'm sure." Valerie smiled. "I'm just happy to be making them again. I used to do it all the time when I was kid." 

Logan bowed his head. "Well, thank you, again." 

"Enjoy the rest of your stay here!"


	16. Chapter 16

Sunlight poured in through the window. Declan heard a soft moan from besides them, to which they smiled fondly. They rolled over, letting Roman's arm fall off their chest and Roman himself bury his head into their chest. Whilst they waited for their prince to get used to the light, they allowed themself to bask in the sun, feeling the warmth on their scales. It was a little warmer in Aquantur than at the Academy, which was a welcome change for Declan - though it might not be quite as warm as Denemuis, the slight increase in heat would do them some good. 

They felt an arm wrap around their waist again and they were pulled down, rolling over so that they faced Roman, still burying his head in Declan's chest. They brought out their hand and began to stroke through Roman's hair, around his horns, and smiled fondly as they heard him hum in appreciation. He felt Roman's hand reach around for Declan's other arm, and he began to gently stroke the scales lining their skin, in all the spots that made Declan's heart flutter. 

Declan closed their eyes, half tempted to go back to sleep. The sun was up, and the day had begun, but Declan was content with their prince. Even if the world was ending, Declan would've been happy to just lie here, feeling the warmth of their beloved and keeping him safe, holding him tight. 

Until Logan began to walk around the room, rather loudly, in an attempt to get the group up. 

Declan attempted to move, to join Logan and the others, all slowly rising, but Roman just pulled them closer, tightening his grip. It was a strong grip, too. Roman was a soldier - he'd trained alongside Declan, and whilst Declan was definitely more fit to be a fighter, Roman had quickly built up his own strength. After a couple moments of trying to wiggle out of his grasp, Declan gave in, remaining still and instead just looking up at Logan. 

Logan looked down at the two of them, looking increasingly frustrated. From what Declan could gather, the rest of the group was already up and downstairs. 

_Five more minutes_ , Declan mouthed to Logan, who sighed but nodded, and soon left the room. 

"Darling," Declan whispered, turning their head towards Roman, "are you planning on awakening?" 

In response, Roman grumbled into Declan's chest and somehow squeezed even tighter. 

Declan hummed. "I guess you won't be getting any morning kisses from me, then." He let out an over-exaggerated sigh. 

Roman's head immediately shot up, now seemingly wide awake. "What?" 

Declan pouted. "We simply won't have any time now, since you'd rather use this time to sleep." 

"No, absolutely not, you can't deprive me of my morning kisses," Roman protested. 

Declan rolled his head back. "Well, I suppose if you get up..." 

Roman quickly sat up, dragging Declan with him as their arms remained intertwined. "There. I'm up." 

Declan smirked. "Oh, honey, there's a _lot_ more things to be done before we're _up_." 

Apparently ignoring Declan, Roman pressed his lips up to Declan's cheek, locking around their scales. Giggling a little, Declan allowed themself to be pushed down by Roman, who rolled over on top of them and kissed them all over, finally landing on their lips. Upon that, Declan kissed back, and soon the two ended up back on their sides, cuddling once more. 

"We really should get up, though," Declan whispered, after kissing Roman a couple more times around his cheeks and forehead. 

Roman pouted. "But-" 

"There'll be plenty of time for us to kiss on the road," Declan said, sitting up in bed. Roman joined them in doing so, keeping an arm wrapped around their shoulder. 

"One day we can do this properly," Roman said. "Just the two of us, a place of our own. We can sleep in every day and say good morning via kisses and cuddles." 

Declan smiled. "Well. We can hope." 

"It'll happen," Roman promised. "I'll make sure of it. When this is all over... It'll be just us, okay?" 

"And your Kingdom," Declan pointed out. 

Roman hummed. "I'll find a place for just us two, okay? I... I know I'll have the Kingdom to look after, but I _promise_ that you'll come first." 

Declan shook their head. "It's alright, Roman. The Kingdom comes first. You know I'll be waiting." 

"Absolutely not," Roman said. "I don't even _care_ about being King. I just... want to be happy. Want _you_ to be happy." 

Declan rolled their eyes, still smiling. "Come on, we should get up." They wriggled out of Roman's arms and jumped off the bed, immediately slipping off their nightwear and changing into their usual clothes, pretending not to care that Roman was watching them. 

Once both of them were dressed, they gathered the last of their bags and made their way down into the bar area, where the rest of the group was waiting. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "I see you've finally decided to join us," he said, as Declan came up besides him, leaning on arm on the bar. 

"It took a little bit of persuading to get Roman to wake up," Declan said. 

"Ah." Logan hummed. "Well, I suppose we should be off. It'll take a while to reach Tahlia Falls Outpost, and we've already wasted enough time." 

He began to walk out the inn, with the rest of the group following. Roman and Declan fell to the back, sharing a somewhat concerned glance. 

"Did Logan seem a little odd to you?" Roman asked. 

Declan frowned. "No. He's probably just stressed. I think he wanted us to leave at sunrise, or something." 

"As if _that_ was ever gonna happen." Roman shot a quick grin and wave to the Innkeeper as he walked out the door, displaying his farewells. "It'll just mean it may be starting to get dark by the time we reach the outpost. Which is fine. We have magic to produce light if we really need to." 

Declan nodded. "Of course." They reached down for Roman's hand, twisting their fingers together. They felt Roman mimic them and squeeze their hand, causing their scales to flicker pink for a second before fading back to their usual green. 

~*~ 

By the time they reached the outpost, the moon was just beginning to rise over the horizon. Both Logan and Roman had produced a small ball of light for the group - a star from Logan and a flame from Roman. At that moment, Declan couldn't have been more happy to be walking next to Roman, as they got both the affection they so desperately craved from their boyfriend and the warmth they so desperately needed from the fire. For the entire walk down the stream and around the twisting path up the cliff, Roman and Declan refused to let go of one another's hands. 

When they reached the gate, they were stopped by the guard, who Logan went to talk to. It wasn't long before they were let inside and taken to their quarters, as the Aquantian soldier escorting them explained that they were free to stay the night before receiving the parcel and leaving in the morning. Declan tried not to notice the fact that they had increased their security since the last time they had visited the outpost - added far more soldiers, more surveillance at night, more defence around the perimeter. Things were getting worse in Aquantur. The war wasn't going well, was it? 

After taking their bags to their beds, the group made their way to the campfire where more soldiers sat, presumably on break, having dinner. The soldiers had said that the group was welcome to join, so they all got their share of food and sat down to eat. 

"You're from the Academy, right?" one soldier asked, sat next to Declan. 

Declan nodded. "Yes." 

"You probably don't know what's going on, then," the soldier said. 

Declan frowned. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean, things are getting worse," he continued. "Aquantur is still neutral, but we've been getting frequent attacks, and..." 

"Is it from Ignebris?" Logan asked, joining the two of them. 

The soldier shrugged. "We don't know. There's more monsters around. A group of people have been attacking various outposts, but we've yet to identify them." 

Declan glanced at Logan. "Do you think-?" 

"It won't be the Dragon Witches," Logan said, almost with absolute certainty. "It may be a group under their control, but the actual Dragon Witches are far too important to be getting caught up in attacks on outposts. I'd imagine most of those remain in Ignebris." 

"What's a Dragon Witch?" the soldier asked. 

Logan blinked. "You... don't know?" 

"I'm new here," the soldier explained. "Just been recruited. They needed more soldiers as soon as possible, so I... I volunteered." 

"Ah." Logan moved closer to the soldier. "Well, 'Dragon Witch' is the codename for a group of leaders in Ignebris. I suppose they are a sort of General. Their magic focuses on dragon-like abilities, and they sometimes take the forms of dragons, or a mix between human and dragon. They've been a threat to our group specifically, as we often fight in Ignebris, where most of them are stationed." 

"Didn't Remus see one in the woods?" Declan recalled. 

"Ah, yes." Logan glanced down. "We, uh, well, one of our members encountered a Dragon Witch in Aquantur, just a couple days ago. We have reason to believe that she has sent monsters to Aquantur - a dragon, at the very least." 

"Oh, I heard about the dragon," the soldier said. "A group of powerful magic users apparently took it down, with hardly any help." 

"Yes, well, that was us," Logan said. 

The soldier's eyes widened. "No way." 

Logan blinked. "You knew that we're from the Academy, right?" 

"Yes, but..." He stared at Logan in wonder. "You really defeated a _dragon_?" 

"Well, we are professionally trained. Declan here is amongst the highest ranks of the Knights of Silvales," Logan said, gesturing to Declan. 

The soldier turned to face Declan, eyes wide with shock. "You _what_?" 

Declan smiled. "I'm the personal knight of Prince Roman." 

" _Prince Roman_!" the soldier repeated, excitedly. 

Declan raised an eyebrow. "You know of him?" 

" _Know of him_? I've heard all about him! My brothers and I used to talk about how one day we'd want to meet him." 

Declan smirked. "You do know that he's here, right?" 

"He _is_?" 

Declan looked over to Roman, who was standing by the fire with Remus. "Hey, darling!" he called. 

Roman turned around and made his way over. "Yes, my love?" 

"I've found a friend for you," they said, motioning to the soldier, who was now staring at Roman with excitement in his eyes. 

"Oh? And what might your name be?" Roman asked. 

"Erm, F-Felix," he stuttered. 

Roman grinned. "Prince Roman, at your service." He bowed in greeting. 

Felix didn't seem to know how to respond to that. 

Roman just laughed. "It's okay, you don't have to be afraid of me. I'm only a Prince by title." 

"I'm a big fan of you," Fix blurted out. "Ma used to read stories..." 

"Stories?" Roman giggled. "What kind of stories?" 

"Just, like, tales about things you got up to in Silvales, accounts from people seeing you here in Aquantur..." Felix blushed a little. "I've always wanted to meet you." 

Roman smiled and sat down, between Felix and Declan. "Well, I'm honoured to be meeting you." 

Declan placed a hand on Roman's leg. "I've known Roman since we were kids. He trained with me whilst I was training to be in the Royal Guard." 

Roman smiled fondly. "I made Declan my Knight as soon as I had the power to. Mostly so we could go to the Academy together, but also because they're... they're the only person that I'd actually trust with my life." He brought his hand up and held onto Declan's. 

Felix continued staring at the two of them, excitement only growing in his eyes. 

Then there was an explosion. Alarms. Chaos.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: falling ill

Virgil's eyes darted around nervously as he watched soldiers sprint around the room, putting on their armour and gathering weapons. He was frozen in place, terrified to even find out what was going on. 

Logan emerged from the crowd, with Roman, Declan, and an Aquantian soldier following. "The lake's under attack," he told them. "We need to get down there." 

Remus quickly jumped at the opportunity and joined the four of them as they followed the soldiers out of the outpost. Virgil glanced at Patton, fear in his eyes. His shadow was growing larger by the second. 

Patton reached down and took Virgil's hand. "It'll be okay. We can handle this. We defeated the dragon, remember?" 

Virgil nodded, slowly. "Yes, we..." He closed his eyes, trying to clear his thoughts 

"C'mon, the others are waiting." Patton began to drag Virgil behind them as they ran to catch up with the group. 

They followed the soldiers to the edge of Tahlia Falls, the six - no, now seven, apparently - making their way to the front and looking down at the lake. Some sort of sea serpent thrashed around in the water, roaring as it sprayed at the soldiers standing around the lake and smashed its tail against the ground, hitting a few soldiers and causing them to fall to the floor. 

"You guys can handle this, right?" the soldier asked, sounding even more nervous that Virgil. "I mean, you defeated that dragon." 

"We... can't promise anything, Felix, but we can help." _Felix_ \- that must be the soldiers name. Virgil was pretty sure he had seen Declan talking to him earlier, actually. 

Felix draw his sword. "Let me know if there is anything I can do to help." 

Logan hummed. "How's your magic?" The group ducked as a beam of water shot up towards them, a force that knocked some of the soldiers behind them off their feet. 

Felix spread out his hand, causing a ball of water to form and then collapse. "Uh, not brilliant." 

"Or particularly useful," Declan said. "Water isn't going to do much against this beast that's literally _made_ of water." 

Felix whimpered. "I'm, uh, alright with a sword, though?" 

"We can use that," Logan said. "You too, Declan. Is there any weak spots on it that we can use?" 

Patton squinted. "It seems to be well protected." 

"It's using a sort of forcefield," Remus added. "Or building one up, at least." 

Patton's eyes widened. "It's taking the water from the lake." 

Logan looked down in concern. "That's bad. This lake is a major power source for... well, for all of Aquantur, really. If the lake goes..." 

"We'll have no magic," Felix whispered. 

The group shared a concerned glance, before Logan raised his arm and began to draw. After a moment or two, he cleared his throat. "The best thing we can do for now is get it away from the lake. After that, we'll be able to work on breaking the shield and attacking its weak points." 

"How do we get it away from the lake?" Virgil asked. 

Roman and Remus looked at each other for a moment, grinning. 

Logan sighed. "What are you two planning?" 

"We can draw it away," Remus said. "It'll be attracted to fire, so if Roman runs down the river it'll follow." 

Logan frowned. "Are you sure?" 

"Absolutely certain," Roman said. "We used to do it with smaller sea serpents when we came here on holidays." 

Logan nodded. "Alright. You two go ahead. We'll spread the message to the rest of the soldiers, get them out the way." 

"I'll come with you," Declan said. 

"No, Declan, you need to stay here," Logan said. 

"But-" 

"We can't have you near the serpent yet," Logan explained. "Once the twins have got it away, we all can head down there. Patton, Virgil and I can work to destroy the shield, and then you and Felix can go in with your swords. I suppose Roman can aid in that as well, assuming he is fit after his first task." 

Declan glanced back at Roman. "I-" 

"It's okay, dear," Roman said, smiling. "I'll be alright. We'll be together as soon as this is all over." 

"It's my job to protect you, though, Roman." 

"And you are," Roman said. "You're protecting me as best you can by staying here." 

Declan breathed in. "Stay safe, okay? Don't let it get too close to you." 

"I'll be fine!" Roman exclaimed. "I've done this _millions_ of times before." 

"Not with a serpent as big as this," Declan pointed out. 

"I'll take extra care, alright?" Roman stepped towards Declan and kissed them on the cheek. "We'll be together again before you know it." 

Declan breathed. "I... Okay." 

Roman smiled, before he and Remus began to make their way down the cliff and towards the lake. During that time, the remaining five went to inform the other soldiers of the plan, telling them all to back down - presumably, the twins did the same on their journey. 

Virgil stepped to the side of the cliff, looking down at the twins. Roman now appeared to be set on fire, a bright orange glow encasing his body. He watched as the twins sped down the river, Remus occasionally shooting some poison at the serpent if it got too close. 

"C'mon, we should head down there," Logan said, rising off the ground and beginning to float down the cliff. The other four looked at each other, before running to catch up with him, all four of them almost slipping a few times on the narrow path. 

Virgil fell back so he ran besides Patton, who was falling behind a little. "You doing okay?" 

"Of course," Patton said, huffing and puffing. "Just not used to this much running." 

"I can carry you, if you want," Virgil offered. 

"I... Are you sure?" 

"Yeah." Virgil crouched down. "Get on my back." 

"Okay." Patton hopped up, clinging to Virgil's neck as he continued to run, somehow even faster than before. They giggled a little, causing Virgil to smile. 

"How come I don't get a piggyback?" Felix asked. 

"You can run just fine," Declan said. 

Felix pouted. 

"You're not getting a piggyback." 

Felix groaned. "Fine." 

Logan landed in front of them. At this point, they had got to the bottom of the cliff plus a little way down the river heading out into the woods. Trees had fallen down, scattered across what should have been a vast, blooming forest. 

"Remus and Roman are just up ahead. They're at another lake, the serpent has them cornered." 

Declan began to run again, but Logan stopped them, grabbing their arm. "Slow down. You and Felix walk, by the time we've got the shield down it should be ready for you to attack." 

Declan nodded, but they didn't looked particularly happy about it. 

"C'mon, you two," Logan said, continuing to float down the path. Virgil followed him, holding tight to Patton. The three knew they had reached the serpent when they saw a large blue glow, and a smaller orange glow to the side. 

They came to a stop. Remus saw them and came running over. "Guys, thank the gods. Roman is holding it off best he can, but..." 

"Patton, you go to Roman," Logan instructed. "Make sure he isn't injured. Feed him some magic, if you must. On my signal, both of you fire." 

Patton nodded and ran to the other side of the lake, joining Roman. 

"Virgil, you head to the right side, I'll head to the left," he continued. "On my signal, fire as well. Remus, you stay here. Again, fire. When Declan and Felix arrive, tell them to wait until the shield breaks and then attack. I'll call upon the stars to lift them up, if need be." 

The two nodded and got into position. 

Virgil raised his hands, causing the shadows to rise up with him. He panicked for a brief moment as he himself lifted off the ground, his cloud of darkness underneath his feet holding him in midair. Under any other circumstances, he would've freaked out, but he had a much bigger concern to be freaking out about in that moment. 

He looked over at Logan, now floating on the same level at him. They locked eyes, Logan's eyes filled with intrigue, before Logan looked around at the others and shouted, "Now!" 

Virgil pushed his arms foreword, causing a beam of shadow to emit from his hands. The others did the same, so five beams shot towards the beast. The barrier of water began to break, droplets evaporating off into the surroundings, as the shield grew smaller and smaller. 

He glanced down at Remus, noticing that Declan and Felix were now there as well, standing either side of Remus. Logan shouted, "Attack!" and the two surged foreword. Stars floated down and spun around their bodies, lifting them up into the air and through a gap in the shield. They landed on the beast and slashed at it's back, whilst desperately holding on with the other hand. 

The sea serpent cried out in pain. Dark blue blood seeped out of its back and into the lake below, mixing in with the otherwise clear water. And then it collapsed, the light fading from its eyes and the shield exploding into steam. 

Virgil slowly floated back to the ground, along with Logan. The group rushed over to Declan and Felix, who were now sitting on the corpse's back. They jumped off and swam to the shore, regrouping with the team. 

Declan immediately rushed to Roman, going to hold him in their arms. They checked him all over and whispered something in his ear, something that Virgil couldn't hear but seemed to make Roman happy. 

Patton breathed in. "Is everyone-" 

Felix doubled over in pain. Eyes widening, Virgil rushed over and caught him before he hit in the ground. 

"Felix-" Logan came to his side. "What's wrong?" 

He looked pale. And... broken. His eyes grew dull. And he didn't seem to be able to speak. 

Logan looked at Patton. "Patton, can you-"

Patton shook their head. "It's not a physical injury. He..." They bit their lip. "We should get him back to the outpost." 

The group nodded in agreement, and Virgil picked him up, carrying him bridal style back to the lake. They all walked in silence, perhaps feeling as though it wouldn't be exactly... _appropriate_ to celebrate their victory, not just yet. Not when Felix... 

Virgil almost dropped him when they reached the lake. It was... 

"Gone," Patton whispered. "The lake..." 

Logan glanced up. "The waterfalls stopped flowing." 

Falling into an even more uncomfortable silence, they continued making their way up to the outpost, where they laid Felix on the ground. He was still alive, but... 

Another soldier came rushing over. "Did you-" 

"The serpents dead," Logan announced, "but I think we have a greater problem." 

"At least fifty of our men are... I don't know." 

"The waterfalls gone," Logan said. 

The soldier blinked. "It's... what?" 

"It's _gone_ ," Logan repeated. "I... The serpent must have taken all of the water. Or maybe something happened whilst we were fighting the serpent. Either way..." 

"That's the biggest source of magic in Aquantur," the soldier said. 

"I... I know." Logan breathed in. "I think... I don't know what you can do about the waterfall. It's _completely_ gone, and replacing the water might..." 

"It wouldn't have the same magic," Patton said. "It wouldn't _work_." 

The soldier looked down. "So... what can we do?" 

Patton hummed. "Get anyone affected by this to Lanamia. I can send a message to them. They might... They _should_ be able to replenish their magic. They have springs there with magic that may help, and _maybe_ they can make it a new source, but..." 

"We can try," the soldier said. 

"I'd imagine there'll be people all over Aquantur experiencing the same problem," Logan said. "It would be wise to attempt to contact them, as well. Get as many of those affected as you can to Lanamia." 

The soldier nodded. "We'll send out a message in the morning. In the meantime..." 

"Everyone should get some rest," Logan decided. " _Especially_ those affected. We'll have to leave first thing in the morning, but..." 

"It's alright, you can count on me," the soldier said. 

"Good." He turned to the rest of the group. "We should all get some sleep." He began to walk back to their quarters. 

Virgil continued carrying Felix back with him, eventually putting him down on a bed. He turned to Patton. "Will-" 

"Everyone will be okay," Patton promised. "It'll all be okay."


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: talk of running away from home (past)

The group set out early the next morning, making their way down to the Aquantur border. Logan had collected the package to be dropped off at another outpost in Denemuis, that they would have passed anyway on their way to Therba. They hadn't said goodbye to the soldiers at the outpost - just hoped that those who had fallen ill would soon recover, would recover at all. 

As they walked down the river, Roman glanced at Declan, noticing that they seemed a little... off. Which wasn't really weird, Declan didn't talk a lot as it was and they were constantly lost in thought, but it seemed different this time. He moved over towards them. 

"How's the most handsome knight doing on this fine day?" he asked, gently judging Declan on the shoulder. 

Declan didn't respond. 

Roman hummed. "Is this because we're going to Denemuis?" 

Declan glared at him. 

"Okay, I'll take that as a yes." Roman rubbed the back of his neck. "You don't need to be worried, y'know. You've got us in there before." 

Declan rolled their eyes. "I _know_ I can get you in. That isn't what I'm afraid of." 

Roman tilted his head. "What is it, then?" 

Declan just glared at Roman again. 

Roman held up his hands in defence. "Okay, okay, you don't want to tell me, that's fine. Just know that I support you no matter what, okay?" 

"Okay," Declan grumbled. 

"We should be there in an hour or so," Logan announced, glancing back at the rest of the group. "Declan, you good to let us in?" 

Declan closed their eyes. "Gates are closed today. But there's a secret entrance near the wall." They opened them again.

"No traps?" Logan checked. 

"None that I can't stop," he replied. 

"Great." 

They continued walking in silence, Roman only growing more concerned about Declan. Roman was... Well, Declan always came to Roman with their problems. Declan _wasn't_ secretive with Roman - Roman was about the only person who Declan trusted enough to share their secrets. And they had an awful lot of them. 

It wasn't rare for Declan to go quiet, though. And it wasn't rare for them to be distracted. And Roman knew that Declan wasn't a fan of Denemuis, for whatever reason, so maybe it was just that. He supposed that going back home brought up some of their old wounds. Roman wasn't entirely sure what went down in Denemuis, but he knew that it hurt Declan, enough for him to run away to Silvales. 

That was what Declan had told Roman. That they'd ran away, after some horrible accident, and eventually joined the Silvales Guard. They had only been a child at the time, maybe eight or nine. That was the normal age for a Denemi to start training, so the Guard had taken them on early - a typical Silvalan soldier would start training at thirteen. 

Roman had started training early, too. Declan hung around the castle a lot, since they didn't really have anywhere else to go, so Roman had struck up a friendship with them early on. Knowing that they had already begun training, Roman was desperate to do the same, and had begged father to let him join the ranks. Of course, being a prince and first in line for the throne, he hadn't been allowed to actually _join_ the Guard, but his father had allowed him to train with Declan. 

The two would hang out even after training, basically all the time. They were joined at the hip, his mother always used to say. Of course, Remus was there too, getting up to their usual bullshit, but Roman and Declan were as close as could be. 

The first year at the Academy had been tough for Roman, as he hadn't had Declan there. It was during the summer when they had time off that Roman made Declan his personal knight, so that they could come to the school with him. 

But despite how close they were, Declan never spoke much about their life before the Guard. Roman knew that they were from Denemuis - everyone did, they looked exactly like the typical Denemi - but they never told him why he left. They said that they ran away, that they were looking for something better in life, but... something in Roman didn't believe that. 

He glanced back at Declan, reaching down and taking their hand, squeezing it a little to comfort them. A small smile grew across Declan's face. 

~*~

The group stopped once they reached a giant wall, reaching up into the sky - the border between Aquantur and Denemuis. Nobody was really sure how long ago the Wall was built, or even why it was built, but at the same time nobody had thought to bring it down. 

The Wall ran all the way around Denemuis' border, locking the world out. Denemuis had always been locked away, separate from the rest of the continent. Roman believed that they were on Silvales' side of the war, but there was no telling - there were certainly Denemi soldiers on the front lines, but it was unclear as to whether they were fighting for Silvales or not. They hadn't been recruited, or anything. They just... fought. 

Most of the best warriors on the continent came from Denemi. The second best came from Silvales. So Roman thought it made sense that the two would join forces - and they did, kind of, but they still didn't really know anything about Denemuis. 

Well, they did know that not many people came back. The climate there was harsh, too hot for any regular human or non-native magical creature to stand. There were the tunnels, of course, winding their way all throughout the Kingdom, but if anybody reached the surface they wouldn't come back. 

There were still the Outposts, though, stationed throughout the tunnels. That was the only way that Denemuis communicated with the outside world - sending messages from the Outposts, to Silvales and the other Kingdoms fighting with them. Roman had only been in Denemuis a few times, but never to one of the Outposts - the security there was above all else, only a select few people allowed in and rarely any leaving. 

"Alright," Logan said, "Declan?" 

Declan stepped up to the Wall. They placed their hand on the stone brick, and leant their forehead against it, closing their eyes. A second later, they drew away. 

"Entrances are all closed," they said. 

Logan hummed. "What about the secret entrance you mentioned?" 

Declan sighed and looked around, eyes eventually landing on a stretch of grass. "There." They walked over to it and knelt down, closing their eyes again. A bright light emitted from the ground, where Declan's hand touched the grass, and a moment later a hole opened up, revealing a staircase leading into the ground. Declan stood up and turned back to look at the other. 

"Is it safe?" Logan asked. 

Declan nodded and stepped aside, allowing the rest of the group to step inside. They rejoined with Roman at the back of the group, following him down the staircase. 

Logan raised his hand, conjuring a light out in front of them, and led the way further down. Declan stayed close to Roman. 

"You sure you're okay?" Roman whispered. 

Declan nodded. 

"If anything is troubling you, you can talk to me, y'know?" 

Declan grabbed Roman's hand. "I know. There isn't anything to say." 

A part of Roman thought that they were lying. And they probably were. They did that a lot, though not as much with Roman. They tended to hide their thoughts and feelings so as to not alarm the rest of the group, or because they weren't comfortable speaking about their past, but… it was very rare that they would lie to Roman. But if they _were_ lying to Roman now... well, that meant this was serious. 

Logan stopped walking, and Roman bumped into Patton in front of him. Declan sighed. 

"It's blocked," Logan said. 

"Wait," Declan instructed. 

A moment later, the wall in front of Logan melted, and a couple Denemi soldiers stood on the other end, sharp spears held out in front of them and pointing at the group. 

"It's alright," Declan said, pushing their way to the front of the group. "They're with me." 

One soldier frowned. "You're a Denemi?" 

Declan nodded. "Yes." 

"Name?" the second soldier asked. 

"Dec- I mean, Janus," they said, "of the Iagina family. Factor twelve." 

...Janus? Why had-

The soldiers stepped to the side. "Don't cause any trouble." 

"We won't," Declan promised, walking into the room and motioning for the rest of the group to follow. 

Roman made his way to the front of the group to catch up with Declan, standing by their side. The group now stood in a larger room, built underground, with different hallways leading off into different places around Denemuis. 

"Janus," one of the soldiers said, "can we talk to you for a moment?" 

Declan sighed, but made his way over there. The three talked too quietly for Roman to hear. 

He joined Remus sitting on the floor near one of the tunnels and leant on the wall behind him, sighing. He slowly sank down to sit on the floor. It seemed as though Declan and the soldiers would be talking for a while. Which was fine and all - they had enough time still, and a little break wouldn't do any harm, but... 

"I'm worried about Declan," he said to Remus, who was staring into space and chewing on... something. Roman wasn't sure if he wanted to know. 

"You are?" Remus said, swallowing whatever was in her mouth. 

"Yeah." Roman shifted from side to side, trying to get at least somewhat comfortable on the hard floor. "They seem a little off, don't you think?" 

Remus shrugged. "Seems fine to me." 

"No, there's... there's something wrong," Roman insisted. 

"Well, they're _your_ boyfriend," Remus reminded him. "Why don't you ask them yourself?" 

"I tried," Roman said. "They said nothing was wrong." 

"Well, maybe that means nothing is wrong," Remus suggested. 

Roman shook his head. "No. I'm... I'm sure there is something on their mind. They've been acting weird all day. They just said that their name is _Janus_ \- like, what's that about?" 

"Again, why don't you go ask them yourself? I'm sure they have a perfectly good reason for all of this." Remus stood up. "Maybe they're not ready to talk yet. Or maybe there really is nothing wrong." She walked over to Logan, seemingly fed up with listening to Roman's crisis. That was fair enough, Roman thought. 

Eventually, Declan came over to join Roman, the other two soldiers walking off down a corridor. They sat down next Roman, leaning their head on his shoulder. Roman instinctively wrapped his arm around Declan's back, pulling them closer. 

"Why did you just say your name is Janus?" Roman wondered. 

Declan stared ahead. "Reasons. Don't particularly want the Denemi to know that I'm here. Y'know, the usual, protecting my identity and stuff." 

"Oh." Roman supposed that made sense, in a way. But why Declan would have to hide from their own country, Roman didn't know. "So, uh, what did they talk to you about?" he asked.

"Oh, you know." Roman could feel Declan's breathing on his neck, and see their chest move up and down. "The usual. Telling me to be careful in the tunnels and all." 

Roman knew they were lying, and Declan seemed to know too. He noticed their scales flicking purple, then settling on a darker shade of green than usual - Roman wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret that. 

"I don't want to be here," Declan admitted. "This... isn't a good place." 

Roman glanced down at them, watching them snuggle deeper into his side. "Why did you run away?" he wondered. 

Declan closed their eyes. "I..." They breathed in. "I don't really want to talk about it." 

"Oh." Roman looked ahead, noticing that the others were waiting for him. Logan was trying his best not to stare at him, with Remus jumping around him out of boredom and Virgil and Patton playing with their magic off to the side. 

"I'll tell you another time," they promised. "It's just... It's a long story." 

"Is it... Is it the reason why you don't want to be here?" Roman asked. 

Declan shoved Roman's arm off them and shuffled away, bringing their legs up and hugging their knees. "Part of it, I guess." 

Roman placed a hand on Declan's shoulder. 

"The soldiers told me that I shouldn't be here," Declan finally admitted, avoiding eye contact with Roman. "And they're right, I guess. I... I shouldn't have come back here." 

"You've come back before, haven't you?" Roman reminded them. 

"Yeah, but..." They shook their head. "It was the same last time. And the time before. I _shouldn't be here_." 

"We'll be out soon," Roman said. "It's only a couple days of travel, right?"

Declan scoffed. "A couple days too many." 

"Are you two finished?" Logan asked from the other side of the room, apparently getting impatient. 

Roman looked up at him, displaying an apologetic smile. "Just a few more moments!" He turned back to Declan, lowering his voice back to a whisper. "If you feel overwhelmed during any of this, tell me, alright?" 

Declan nodded. "Yeah, okay." 

"And if anyone tries anything on you, know that I'll be the first one to defend you." 

Declan smiled. "Yeah, Roman, I know." 

"You have nothing to be afraid of down here, okay?" 

"Okay." They looked at Roman for a second, before closing their eyes to compose themself then standing up. "This way, guys." They began to lead the group down one of the corridors, now walking at the front of the group. 

Roman created a small flame in his hands to light the way, as he walked besides Declan. They seemed just as distant as before. And despite their talk and the reassurance that Declan _would_ be okay, Roman couldn't help but worry.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: banishment, thievery, implied neglect, imprisonment (all past), mention of execution

Declan led the group through the winding tunnels all across Denemuis, instinctively knowing the way. That came with being a Denemi, they supposed. Any other person attempting to navigate the tunnels would immediately get lost, and there wasn't exactly a map to show them the way - the tunnels shifted every few minutes, so it would be impossible to create an accurate map anyway. 

But Declan knew where they were going. They could _feel_ it. They could _also_ feel themself getting closer to exactly where they didn't want to be. 

It was inevitable, they supposed, that eventually they'd return home. If they could call it that. It was almost impossible to walk through Denemuis without going through the capital - the city of Dahma - which was where most of the Denemi lived. Declan had returned a few times since running off to join the Silvales Guard, but each time managed to keep a low enough profile to not be seen. They imagined this time would be more difficult, though, as the war only got more intense and the security around Dahma would surely increase. 

They abruptly turned a corner, trying their best to avoid the main entrance of Dahma. If they could go round through a different entrance, there was less of a chance of them being caught. There would be guards on the main gate, possibly guards that knew them from their life before, and Declan didn't want to risk bumping into them. Chances were the smaller entrances would be left unguarded, or at the very least only guarded by the weaker soldiers. 

They came to another room, with tunnels leading off in various directions. Declan stopped. 

Logan frowned, approaching Declan. "Is there a problem?" 

Declan's eyes shifted to the side. "No." 

"Then why have we stopped?" Logan asked. 

Declan sighed. "We're about to enter Dahma," they said. 

"Dahma's peaceful though, isn't it?" Patton recalled. 

"Well, yes, but if the gates to Denemuis are closed, I can only imagine that the gates to Dahma are closed too." They breathed in. "They won't be happy with outsiders." 

"Can't you talk to them?" Logan suggested. "Like you did with the soldiers earlier?" 

They glared at Logan. 

"Okay," Roman said, standing between Declan and Logan, "I think it's time for a five minutes break. We've been walking for hours." 

"But-" 

"No buts, Logan," Roman said. "All of you, rest." He grabbed Declan's wrist and dragged them into one of the corridors. 

Declan snatched their hand back, rubbing their wrist. "What the hell was that for?" 

"Something is bothering you, and you're going to tell me what," Roman said, firmly. 

Declan rolled their eyes. "Nothing is _bothering_ me." 

"I _know_ when you're lying, Declan." 

He looked at them expectantly, arms folded, until Declan finally succumbed and sank to the floor, sitting with their head leant against the wall. Frowning a little in concern, Roman copied them, sitting leant on the wall opposite them. 

"I'm sorry," Declan said. "This place just... isn't great for me." 

"You don't have to be sorry, Declan," Roman said, reaching out his hand and taking theirs. "Just... tell me what's going on." 

"The people in Dahma don't like me," Declan stated. 

Roman raised an eyebrow. "Why?" 

"That's... That's a long story." Declan sighed. "I grew up there." 

Roman frowned. "I thought you said you grew up in a surface village?" 

"Well, I lied," Declan said. "I lied about most things, actually." 

Declan couldn't help but noticed that Roman seemed a little hurt by that. 

"I lied to protect myself," Declan continued. "Not because I didn't want you to know the truth." 

Roman glanced down. "What... What else did you lie about?" 

"I..." Declan let go of Roman's hand and stood up, turning their back to Roman. "I didn't run away, first of all. I was banished." 

Roman stood up as well and approached Declan, placing a hand on their shoulder. "You-" Declan shoved his hand away, stepping further from Roman. 

"I only caused trouble in Dahma," they continued. "My family never tried to stop me, so I didn't even know I was doing anything wrong. I'd steal food from the marketplace, at first for fun but eventually because I _needed_ it. I'd fight the guards for fun, because I was _bored_ and couldn't wait to join the guard, and also because they'd sometimes chase me after I took something from the marketplace. I thought it was a game, I guess." 

"You were only eight, though, right?" Roman recalled. 

"Well, yeah, I was a child, much younger than eight, actually, when I first started, but the Denemi don't care about that," they explained. "If I was old enough to be out without a parent, then I was old enough to take responsibility for my own actions." 

"That's messed up," Roman said, quietly. 

"You think I don't know that?" they snapped, spinning their head around to look at Roman. They felt their scales shift, turning red for a second before calming down. "Dahma _sucks_. That's why I stayed in Silvales. People there _respected_ me, and treated me like a child. Because I _was_ a child." 

Roman glanced down, as though he was avoiding Declan's gaze. Declan closed their eyes. 

"Things only got worse as I got older, though," Declan continued. "When I was eight, I picked a fight with the wrong guard and ended up in prison overnight. My parents wouldn't come to get me out, so I tried to break out myself. It wasn't that difficult, since I was just starting to get a hang of my invisibility magic. Long story short, got caught again the next day stealing a necklace, an expensive one I think - I can't remember why I wanted it, I think it was to give to my mother in hopes that next time she'd help out. Anyway, after that they kicked me out of Dahma." 

"So... you're a criminal?" Roman said. 

Declan sighed. "I was young and stupid and didn't know what I doing." They shrugged. "After I left Dahma, I found my way out of Denemuis and eventually came to Silvales. Changed my name, joined the Royal Guard. No one asked where I came from or why I was there, apart from you. I told you that I ran away because I didn't want you to go and tell the Guard the truth, because then I'd probably be cast out of Silvales too." 

Roman shook his head. "I wouldn't have let that happen, you know," he said. "I'm sure my parents would have still taken you in." 

"No." Declan bit their lip. "The other guards already looked down on me for being a child _and_ being a Denemi. I couldn't risk giving them another reason to hate me." 

"I... had no idea." 

Declan shot him a quick smile. "Well. I didn't really talk to you much about any of that. You making me your personal knight was the best thing that happened to me, though. It... gave me a fresh chance. So thanks for that." 

"That was no problem, Declan," Roman said, stepping towards them again. This time, they didn't move away, as Roman wrapped his arms around them. "And you'll always be welcome in Silvales, you know." 

"Yeah, I know," Declan said, leaning his chin on Roman's shoulder. "The same can't really be said about Dahma, but..." 

"It's okay," Roman said. "We can do this. If anyone starts something on you, I'll be the first to draw my sword." 

"Please don't try to fight anyone." Declan drew away from the hug. "You'll only get me kicked out _again_." 

"No, _I'll_ be kicked out," Roman corrected. "And _you'll_ have been avenged." 

Declan smiled fondly, rolling their eyes. "Seriously though, don't pick a fight, because then I'll have to join in and I actually will be kicked out again. Maybe even killed." 

" _Killed_?" Roman repeated. 

"Public execution is still legal here. It's rare, but I'm breaking the law just by _existing_ in Dahma, so I wouldn't put it past them." 

Roman's mouth hung wide open in shock. "Okay, we are absolutely not going to Dahma, I'm not gonna let you be executed-" 

"Relax, Roman." Declan sighed. "I'll be fine. And we don't really have much of a choice. Dahma's the only way to the other side of Denemuis." 

"Is there not a tunnel that goes _around_ Dahma?" Roman wondered. 

"All tunnels connect at Dahma," Declan stated, "so no." 

"How are we supposed to get through, then?" Roman asked. 

Declan shrugged. "Same as usual. Lay low. Try not to draw too much attention to myself. Stay away from my old house and the market. Spend as little time as possible there." 

Roman nodded. "Alright. Sure you'll be okay?" 

Declan smiled. "Yeah." They weren't sure, not really, but they believed they could do this. They _could_ do this, if they were really careful. 

"Then let's go." 

The two returned to the group and Declan continued leading them down the tunnels. They passed by serveral different entrances to Dahma before they reached an entrance that Declan deemed safe enough - the guard was young, so couldn't have had much experience, and also asleep. They led them into the city, Roman finally putting out the fire in his hand as they were greeted by light. 

Dahma was a wonderful place, Declan had to admit. Sure, it had a lot of backwards views, and growing up in Dahma had almost cost them their life, but it was _beautiful_. The ground opened up above them, allowing the sun to light up the streets. Well, not exactly _streets_ \- wooden bridges connected the city together, all hanging in midair over a bottomless pit, with buildings built on floating stones or hand-built wooden platforms. 

They were far enough underground that the usually deadly heat of the desert wouldn't affect non-natives. Of course, that wasn't to say that they were completely safe walking about Dahma - anyone non-Denemi stuck out like a sore thumb, and the Denemi did not like outsiders. 

This would be fine, though. Declan knew the Denemi, and as long as everyone knew that the others were with them, they'd all be fine. Unless people figured out who Declan was, in which case there would be hell to pay, but they tried to stay optimistic. 

"Ground rules," Declan said, addressing the rest of the group, "stay quiet, don't engage with the locals, stay away from the market, and stay close to me. Our exit is all the way on the other side of the city, but it shouldn't take us longer than half an hour to walk there." 

"Can't we explore for a bit?" Patton wondered, looking around excitedly at the city. "We always come here and we never get to look around properly." 

"No, best thing to do is get out of here as soon as possible," Declan said, decisively. "Dahma isn't exactly the peaceful city that you think it is, Patton." 

"Oh." 

"Let's move," Declan said, deciding to ignore Patton's sad expression and instead head straight across the bridges, trying his best to avoid eye contact with the locals. Of course, people stared at the group - it had people from all over the continent, how could they _not_ stare - but Declan kept their eyes fixed ahead, praying that nobody paid attention to them. 

They stopped at a crossroads, trying to remember which way would be the safest. Going one way would result in them passing by their old street, which wasn't ideal, but the other would lead to an area containing some of the most important and richest people in Denemuis, so it was most likely to be highly guarded. 

They turned down the bridge heading towards their street, looking down as they passed, desperately hoping and praying that nobody noticed them. Tons of people lined the streets, of course, and most of them, essentially all the older ones, glanced at Declan as if they recognised them. They probably did. Declan hadn't exactly changed much since they were eight. 

But they could do this. There was only a few steps left until the end of the bridge- 

"Janus?"


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: past abuse/neglect, bad family relations in general

Patton glanced between Declan and the Denemi couple staring at them. They had stopped walking now, stood still on a bridge and forcing the citizens going about their days to walk around them. Patton couldn't help but feel as though something had gone horribly, horribly wrong. 

The Denemi couple, green scales and soft blonde hair very similar to Declan’s, both with one green eye and one yellow, stepped towards Declan, who stood frozen in place. It took every bit of Patton's strength to not run over and grab Declan and drag them out of here - this was their thing, right? They could handle it. Maybe the couple were old friends, somebody they used to know. But... Patton couldn't figure it out - why were they talking to Declan? Why did they seem so upset? And why had they called them _Janus_? 

And Declan didn't seem like they wanted this. They looked... afraid. Declan _never_ looked afraid. 

The woman moved her hand up to Declan's face, gently stroking their cheek. She looked as though she was about to cry. Declan did, too, but for an entirely different reason. The man stood behind her, watching cautiously, almost as if he was afraid that Declan would do something. 

The woman hugged Declan tight, and Patton noticed that Declan tensed up, their arms clinging to their side. And when the woman pulled away, placing her hands on his shoulders, Declan looked as though they were planning how to make the escape. 

"What are you doing here?" the woman asked, wiping away her tears with one hand. 

Declan stared at her, now avoiding the gaze of their team. "We're just passing through," they said, quietly. 

"You shouldn't... What if you get caught?" 

Declan grumbled something too quiet for Patton to hear, and apparently too quiet for the woman to hear, as well. 

"You should come back home," the woman said. "Rest for a bit, at least. Leave when it's safe." 

Declan shook his head. "No, I can't. We have to-" 

"At least for a cup of tea," the woman bargained. "We haven't seen you in _years_ , Janus. Your friends can come as well, if you-" 

" _Mother_." 

Oh. The couple must have been Declan's parents. That explained why they looked so similar, Patton supposed. 

Patton didn't really know much about Declan's past. They knew that they had run away from Denemuis at a young age and joined the Silvalan Royal Guard, but other than that they'd been told nothing. Nothing about their family, nothing about their upbringing, nothing about _why_ they ran. But it seemed as though they were about to find out. 

"Janus, we didn't even know you were still _alive_ ," the mother said. "The _least_ you can do it tell us what happened." 

Declan shook their head. "You don't need to know. I have much more important things to be dealing with right now." 

"More important than your family?" 

Declan rolled their eyes. "What _family_?" 

"Janus," his mother said, harshly. Patton noticed Declan flinching. "Come home. Now." 

Declan looked as though they wanted to argue more, but they gave in, following their parents down the bridge to the side. After a couple moments, Patton and Roman began following, with the others soon joining. Declan turned around. 

"You don't have to come," they said, "if you don't want to." 

"We're not leaving you behind, Declan," Roman said, stepping forward and taking Declan's hand. At this point, the parents stopped, turning to watch with confusion and intrigue. 

"Roman..." Declan pulled their hand back, forcing Roman to let go. "You need to go, okay? Go save the world. I'll be fine." 

"I can't _leave_ you," Roman insisted. 

"Roman-" 

"As your Prince, I order you to let us come with you," Roman said, glaring at Declan. 

Declan seemed to grow smaller. "Alright." 

Roman smiled. "Good. Now, who are these people again?" he asked, joining Declan's side and continuing to walk. 

Declan sighed. "These are my parents. As you should really be able to figure out." 

The group turned onto another bridge, leading up to a floating rock on which a three-story house was built. They were led inside by Declan's parents and all took a seat in the front room. 

"Are you going to introduce us to your friends?" Declan's father asked, whilst their mother went to prepare tea. 

Declan sighed. "They're friends from the Academy." 

Their father raised an eyebrow. "The Academy?" 

"Yup." 

Patton glanced between them, feeling the awkward energy and not liking it one bit. "Did you not know that Dec- I mean, that _Janus_ goes to the Academy?" 

He looked at them, frowning. "I didn't even know he was alive. He shouldn't even be at the Academy, he doesn't have that much power, surely." 

"I don't," Declan admitted. "I... After leaving Dahma I travelled to Silvales and joined the Guard," they explained. "I worked my way up the ranks and eventually I became Prince Roman's-" They gestured to Roman. "-knight. I now attend the Academy to protect him." 

Their father frowned, now staring at Declan. "They let you join the Guard? After everything you did?"

"They didn't have to know any of that," Declan said through gritted teeth. 

Logan glanced at them. "Know what?" 

"Ask me that again and I'll shove my sword down your throat." 

Logan seemed stunned for a second, before he bowed his head. "My apologies." 

Their mother returned, handing everyone a cup of tea. Patton looked down at theirs, half-afraid to drink it for fear that they wouldn't like it, or that it would hurt them, but after watching the rest of the group drink theirs they began to sip on it. They'd never had tea before, so that was a new experience, but it wasn't terrible. 

"What have I missed?" Declan's mother asked, taking a seat next to their father. 

"Janus here has apparently joined the Silvalan Guard," their father updated. 

She raised her eyebrow. "Has he, now?" 

"I don't know why this is so surprising to you," Declan said. "Did you honestly think that after leaving Denemuis I wouldn't try to start a new life?" 

"You were a _child_ ," their mother said. "We were so afraid that you wouldn't even make it out of Denemuis, let alone all the way to Silvales." 

"If you were _that_ afraid, you would have done something to stop it," Declan snapped. 

Their mother breathed heavily. "We tried, honey. There wasn't anything we could do." 

"Yes, there was." Declan sighed. "You could have stopped it earlier. You could have _helped_ me. But you didn't. You didn't care." 

"Janus-" 

They stood up and stormed out the room, Roman quickly following whilst the others were left to sit awkwardly with Declan's parents. 

After a couple moments of silence, Patton said, "Lovely house, you guys have." 

Declan's mother smiled politely. "Thank you, uh-" 

"Patton," they introduced, reaching out to shake her hand. 

She took it, though she seemed a bit confused. 

"Don't worry about De- Janus," Patton said. "I'm sure Roman's handling it." 

"Did... Janus seem a bit odd to you?" Logan asked, looking around at the group. 

"Roman asked me that earlier," Remus recalled. "He thought so." 

"This is his hometown, right?" Virgil asked. 

Patton glanced down. "Janus told me he grew up in a small village on the surface." 

Declan's mother scoffed. 

Patton frowned. "What?" 

"He lied to you, obviously." 

Patton closed their eyes. "But..." 

"Janus grew up here in Dahma," their mother continued. "He was a little _shit_ growing up, as well. Always getting into trouble, which we had to get him out of. I don't know _how_ he managed to land a place in the Royal Guard-" 

"Janus is the strongest soldier we have," Remus interrupted. "He fits in in the Royal Guard. One day, I imagine he'll be running it. You should be proud of him." 

"How am I supposed to be _proud_ of him when he got _banished_ from Denemuis?"

The room fell into silence. 

They... what? 

That wasn't what Patton had been told, what any of them had been told. They had been told that Declan had ran away - which added up, really. They were all well aware that Declan didn't like Denemuis. Maybe that was why... 

"Sorry, would you mind explaining that?" Logan questioned. 

She sighed. "I don't know what there is to explain. He was just a terrible person. He got kicked out after causing trouble one too many times, I guess." 

"Declan is _far_ from a terrible person," Remus said. After a moment of silence, she corrected, "I mean, uh, _Janus_ is far from a terrible person." 

Declan's mother blinked in slight confusion, but didn't comment on Remus'... mistake? "Maybe he is now, I don't know." She glanced around the door. "All I know is that back then, he deserved what he got." 

"He's your _son_ ," Logan said. "Why didn't you try to help?" 

She just laughed. "It's not _my_ fault that he's the way he is," she argued. "I tried to tell the guards that they were being too harsh on him, but at that point it was too late. He’d already committed his crimes and there wasn't any chance of coming back. Again, he deserved what he got." 

"How old?" Remus asked. 

She blinked. "Huh?" 

"How old?" she repeated, louder. 

"He was... eight, when they banished him-" 

"Eight," Remus repeated. "Eight years old. You let your _eight-year-old_ child be abandoned in the world, in the middle of a _war_ , _knowing_ that there was a strong possibility of him _dying_ , and you didn't even _attempt_ to fight to get him back." 

"I-" 

"Listen, my parents suck as well," Remus continued. "They're both too busy running the Kingdom and caring about Roman to care about me. Which is fine, I've grown to accept that, but at least when _I_ get into trouble they help me out. They talk it out with whoever I hurt, and tell me _why_ what I did was wrong. And they would _never_ leave me alone in the world if they knew there was a chance of me dying. Or in general, even.” 

"We... We did help him..." 

"You clearly fucking didn't if he managed to get himself banished." Remus sighed. "Listen, I don't know much about what's going on, but I _do_ know that Declan - Janus, whatever - is a good person. Maybe he's a little ruff around the edges, and maybe he hasn't had such a great life, but I've grown up with him and he's genuinely an amazing guy. Maybe you don't think so because as a _child_ he didn't know right from wrong - y'know, just like a lot of children. And maybe he caused trouble - I did too. He probably didn't know when to stop, and you probably should have _taught_ him that." 

Declan's mother seemed to be growing more distressed by the second. 

"But you know what? After all of this, I'm kinda glad that Janus was banished," Remus continued, "because then he met us guys, and we took him in, and I can tell that did him some good. He's never told me about any of this. He always told me that he ran away from home, and honestly? I can see why he might have _wanted_ to run from home. Maybe the problem wasn't him, but you." 

The room fell silent again. Declan's mother had started to cry. 

The door swung open, and Declan and Roman returned. Neither of them sat down. 

Their mother looked up. "Janus, I'm... I'm sorry-" 

"Don't be." Declan sighed. "I'm leaving, okay? And I'm not coming back." 

"I..." 

"I'm sorry if you thought I was dead," Declan said. "I'm sorry if you only cared about me after it was too late."

"Janus..." She stood up and approached them, wrapping her arms around their shoulders. Their father joined the group, standing behind their mother. "We're your _family_ , Janus." 

Declan shoved her arms away and stepped back, instinctively reaching down for Roman's hand. "You're _not_ my family." 

And then their father slapped them. The room all stared at Declan, fallen onto their knees and holding a hand up to their cheek. Their father didn't even look like he regretted it. 

"Don't come near Declan again," Roman warned, helping Declan up and holding them tight in his arms. "Or you'll have hell to pay." He glanced at the rest of the group. "Come on." 

The six of them left the house, running out of Dahma before Declan's parents could catch up. Declan refused to look back.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: discussions of past abuse

The group didn't stop running until they reached a room several different tunnels away from Dahma. When they were certain that nobody was following them, they all stopped, collapsing onto the ground. 

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Roman noticed Declan sitting alone at the side, their head buried in their knees. He scooted over, embracing them in a comforting hug. Declan didn't move, didn't react at all. 

Declan was crying. And they weren't even trying to hide it. That's how Roman knew that this was bad. 

Of course it was bad. He had seen what had happened. And he knew now, knew everything about why Declan left Denemuis and never turned back. And he knew that he'd never let them go back there again. 

He had had no idea that things were that bad. It had only been a few hours since he leant the truth about why Declan had to leave Denemuis, but he'd never considered that maybe Declan had wanted to leave. They must have, right? If things were like _that_. 

Roman felt Declan's shoulders move up and down as they tried to breath, and Roman loosened his grip a little, in an attempt to give them some space - that must have been what they wanted, right? But they just pulled Roman back, and he continued to hug even harder, keeping Declan safe in his arms. Declan buried their head in Roman's chest, and Roman held on tight, beginning to stroke their hair in a circular motion. 

Things were going to be okay. Declan was going to stay with Roman, he had decided. Roman was going to keep Declan safe. And if Declan wanted to leave, then that was fine, Roman would let them live their life, but he'd _never_ let them return to Dahma. Not ever. 

Declan finally looked up at Roman, tears still falling from their eyes. A bruise has begun to form on their left check, the one without scales. Roman couldn't help but reach up and touch it, rubbing it gently. 

"Honey..." 

Declan sniffled, wiped away their tears, and turned their head, hiding the bruise. A little too late for that, but Roman understood why. 

"I'm going to kill them," Roman stated. 

"Don't," Declan said, their voice hoarse. "Not worth it." 

"They _hurt_ you," Roman said. 

Declan shook their head. "I've had it worse. This is nothing." 

"They were your _parents_ , Declan." 

Declan looked down. "They're not my parents. They haven't been for a long time." 

"Still. Getting hurt in battle is different to getting hurt like that." Roman sighed. "If I ever got hurt, you'd be the first to seek revenge, right?" 

Declan nodded. "Well, yeah. If either of us were hurt by a monster, I'd expect the other to go and fight the monster. Because that's what we do." 

"Then why is this any different?" 

"Because _they_ aren't monsters," Declan snapped. "They... Maybe they have some backwards views. Maybe they aren't _good_ people. But they're still _people_." 

"You didn't deserve what they've done to you," Roman said. 

Declan rolled their eyes. "I did deserve it. I deserve it now, and I deserved it then. I'm not saying that I _like_ it, or that I like them for doing so, but..." They trailed off. 

Roman chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Have they... Have they ever done that sort of thing before?" he asked. 

Declan was silent for a moment, completely still, until they closed their eyes. "I don't know. Probably. I know I was hard to have as a kid, they... well, I can't really blame them. Like I said, I deserved it." 

"You didn't deserve anything like that, Declan." Roman rubbed their shoulders. "You haven't done anything wrong." 

"I did _so_ many things wrong," Declan said. "Every single day I did _something_ wrong." 

"That doesn't mean that they can do that." 

"It's fine," Declan claimed. "I'm used to it." 

That concerned Roman more than it probably should have. 

"Seriously," Declan continued, "this is just what the Denemi are like. And for someone like me, breaking rules every single day, constantly causing trouble... well, I had it coming." 

"It made you _cry_ , Declan," Roman reminded them, causing tears to well up again. "I don't think I've ever even seen you cry." 

"It just came as a shock," Declan defended. "It's been a while since that's happened, I guess. Maybe I just... just got too soft..." 

Roman grabbed Declan's arm, causing them to stiffen up. He stared into Declan's eyes. "What they've done is unforgivable, okay? If... If I wasn't so afraid that it would only make it worse, I'd go back there right now and give them a piece of my mind. It's _okay_ to resent them, Declan. It's not normal for them to hurt you. You shouldn't feel as though you've done anything wrong, because you _haven't_." 

Declan closed their eyes, maybe so they didn't have to look at Roman. "So why do I feel like I have?" 

"I know you don't really, Declan," Roman said. "I know that they scare you, and that you don't understand why they'd do any of this to you. And I know that it upsets you. And that's okay. You don't have to listen to what they think of you." 

"They... They said that they missed me." 

"They don't have the right to miss you." 

Declan collapsed onto Roman's chest again, and Roman hugged them, allowing them to stay there and stay quiet. Maybe they didn't want to talk, and that was fine. For now, Roman was fine with them just being by his side, where he knew they were safe. Roman felt Declan's arms reach around his back, and for a while longer they just sat there in one another's arms. 

Logan cleared his throat. Roman looked up to see he was standing behind them. "I'm sorry to break this up, but I think we should be carrying on." 

Declan hugged Roman tighter, apparently not willing to let go. 

Roman hummed. "Maybe we could sleep here for the night," he suggested. "It must be nearing night now, right?" 

Logan sighed. "Alright, Roman, if you insist. Would you mind...?" 

Roman stared at him for a second, confused, before he realised what Logan wanted. Since they had left Dahma, Logan had been using his own magic as a light source, but now that the group was supposedly going to sleep he probably wanted Roman to make a permanent fire. Roman nodded at Logan to signal to him that he got the message, and then watched Logan return to the others on the other side of the room. 

"Declan, I'm going to have to leave for a second, but I promise I'll be straight back." 

Declan was trembling, their grip only tightening. It didn't seem as though they would let go. 

"Alright then." Guess Roman would have to improvise. He reached out a hand, summoning a small flame, and pushed it out, letting it float around the cavern. After repeating that a few times so that there was plenty of light and warmth around the room, Roman repositioned himself and Declan so they were leaned against the wall, snuggled close together. Roman was fairly certain that Declan was still crying. 

But after a while Declan's breathing steadied, and their grip loosened. Glancing down, Roman realised that they were asleep, resting their head on Roman's side. He smiled fondly, before looking over at the rest of the group. They had all fallen asleep as well - save for Logan, who was staring at him. 

_Are they okay?_ he mouthed to Roman, gesturing with his eyes to Declan. 

Roman nodded. _They're sleeping_ , he mouthed back. _They'll be fine_. 

Logan sent him a quick smile, before laying down himself and closing his eyes, soon falling asleep. Roman glanced back down at Declan, swirling a strand of their hair around his fingers. He noticed the tips of Declan's lips tilt up into a small smile, and Roman relaxed. He leant his head on top of theirs and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep as well. 

~*~ 

Roman awoke to Declan squirming in his arms, trying to get away for... some reason. He let go, allowing them to stand up, before standing up himself. 

"Did you sleep well?" Roman asked, approaching them. 

Declan moved away, grabbing their bags. "We have to keep moving. It won't be long before..." 

"No one is coming to get you, Declan," Roman promised, placing a hand on their shoulder. He could feel them trembling again, and maybe they weren't doing as well as they were letting on. 

"They'll be here soon," Declan insisted. "My pa- _They_ aren't stupid. As soon as they realised that I'm not coming back, they will have alerted the guard. They'll be looking for me." 

"It's nothing we can't handle." 

"I'm an outlaw in Denemuis, Roman." They sighed. "I don't know how you don't understand this." They sounded... blunt. Somewhat angry. Roman wasn't entirely sure how to react. 

They had been so peaceful the night before, so trusting of Roman, and now they were... 

Well, Roman couldn't exactly blame them. They had been tense ever since they entered Denemuis. The events of yesterday afternoon had been somewhat of a setback, he supposed. It had thrown them off, sent them into a spiral, but now they were back in the mindset of just trying to stay alive. If the guards did find them, then... well, Roman imagined they wouldn't be so lenient with them this time, especially if the people who used to be Declan's parents had gotten involved. 

The rest of the group were beginning to get up now, and Declan didn't give them long before they continued their journey through the tunnels. Feeling as though he should give Declan some space, Roman fell back in the group and walked with Remus, still keeping a close eye on Declan. 

"Is Declan alright?" Remus asked, glancing at Roman. 

"They're fine." 

"I had no idea that-" 

"I don't think we should talk about it," Roman said. "Declan... It's hard for them." 

"Ah." 

Roman sighed. "So, did you sleep well?" 

Remus shrugged. "I mean, I slept." 

Roman raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate." 

"Y'know. Nightmares. The usual." 

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. 

She shook her head. "Nah. We got more important things to be dealing with." 

"Like..." 

"The fact that Declan is apparently a _criminal_ running from the law?" Remus suggested, sounding a little concerned. "I mean, I support them fully, like a little crime now and then doesn't hurt, but... like, how have we never heard about this before?" 

Roman sighed. "They had a rough time. That was all. They're not... They did nothing wrong." 

"I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with being a criminal," Remus said. "I just can't believe that they wouldn't tell us." 

"I can literally hear you two, y'know," Declan said from the front of the group. 

"Never said you couldn't," Remus replied. "And my statement still stands." 

"I didn't _say_ anything because it could have cost me my life," Declan spat. "I was safe in Silvales and wanted it to stay that way. I didn't want to risk getting kicked out of Silvales as well, alright?" 

Remus fell silent. She understood now, apparently. 

"You know we support you no matter what, Declan," Patton said. "Or, uh, Janus? 

Declan sighed. "Yeah, Pat, I know. And it's Declan. Hasn't been Janus for years." 

A sound hurtled through the tunnels. A loud, piercing sound. Patton fell to the floor at the high frequency as the tunnel back to shake, the others holding on to the side as best they could. 

"That's them," Declan muttered, the sound beginning to quieten down. 

"Who?" Patton asked, standing back up and repositioning their glasses. 

The sound rang again. 

"Run," Declan ordered, beginning to sprint down the tunnels. After glancing at one another for a moment, the other began to run as well, trying their best to keep up with Declan as they led them down a confusing route through the tunnels, twisting and looping back on themselves and turning corners every two seconds, only seeming to get faster. 

Eventually, realising that it was Declan's intention to leave Denemuis, Logan grabbed their arm, forcing them to stop for a moment. 

"The outpost," he said, once he caught his breath. 

Declan snatched their hand back. "Oh yeah, I'll just _go_ to an outpost _filled_ with Denemi soldiers all trying to _kill_ me, _brilliant_ idea Logan." 

"We can't _not_ go to the outpost, Declan." 

"I have to _leave_ this place, Logan." Declan groaned. "I'm literally going to be murdered if I don't get out of here before the guards catch up to me." 

Roman stepped between Logan and Declan. "Remus and I can go with them. You, Virgil and Patton go to the outpost. We can meet back up in Therba." 

Logan glanced at Declan, then back at Roman. "You sure?" 

"Positive," Roman said. "We'll be fine." 

Declan ripped a scale off their arm, wincing a little from the pain but trying not to show it. "Take this," they said. "The outpost is on the surface. You guys will die in the heat if you don't have protection." 

"What are we supposed to do with a single scale?" Logan asked.

"I don't know, you're smart, think of something," Declan said, handing the scale to Logan. "It's better than nothing." 

"We'll be waiting," Roman promised. "First village. The one with the market we usually visit." 

Placing the scale in his pocket, Logan nodded. "Alright. Stay safe." 

"You too, Logan." 

"The outpost is just down that tunnel," Declan said, pointing to a tunnel a few metres behind them. "Follow it out to a staircase and it should lead you straight to the middle of the outpost."

"Got it." 

Declan bowed their head, and then continued to run, Roman and Remus quickly following him. The sound came back for a second, before the other three continued their journey down the tunnel, following the source of light seen at the end.


	22. Chapter 22

Virgil peeked around the corner, checking the hallway for what felt like the hundredth time. The noises had stopped a while ago, and they had yet to see any soldiers passing by, but the three of them were still reluctant to leave just yet. Logan was still trying to figure out how to use the scale, and Virgil still wanted to make sure that they definitely weren't being followed. He liked to think that Declan had made it out safe, or _will_ make it out safe, but part of him was still terrified. Terrified that they'd caught up with them, terrified that it was already too late to save them. 

Watching out for the soldiers was making Virgil feel a little better, though. He assumed that they would come down this tunnel, following Declan's trail, and they hadn't yet, which must have meant they had given up, or lost track of them. He desperately hoped he was right. 

"Maybe if we cut it up?" Patton said to Logan, as Virgil rejoined the group, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. They had sat down on the floor of the tunnel, Logan's magic illuminating the corridor as he analysed Declan's scale. 

Logan shook his head. "That would split the magic up," he said. "There already is barely enough magic for _one_ of us in this scale, let alone all three of us." 

"So should only one go up?" Virgil suggested. 

Logan shook his head again. "Too dangerous for only one of us. The surface is filled with monsters. We wouldn't stand a chance alone." 

Patton threw their head back against the wall. "This would be so much easier if Declan was here." 

"Well." Logan hummed. "I suppose taking them up to the outpost would be irresponsible, anyway. I'd imagine the outpost has already been contacted to alert them of Declan's presence." 

"Do you..." Virgil breathed in. "Do you think they've been alerted of our presence too?" 

Logan considered that for a moment. "Depends. I'm... not sure if Declan's parents will have told the soldiers that we were with them. I'd imagine that they said something about them not being alone, but... it's unlikely that either of them remember enough about any of us to properly describe us to the authorities. We don’t even have enough proof to say for certain that it was their parents who told the soldiers - it’s possible that one of the soldiers saw them in Dahma, or another civilian, in which case they definitely wouldn’t have had enough time to get a proper look at us to describe us properly.” 

Virgil let out a sigh of relief. 

"However," Logan continued, sending Virgil's anxiety through the roof once again, "we're not Denemi. You, Virgil, may be able to get away, being a Therban, but... Patton and I are likely to be identified quite quickly." 

Virgil groaned. "Great. We're all gonna die." 

"No, Virgil, we're not," Patton said, grabbing his leg and pulling him down to the floor. He reluctantly accepted his fate, deciding to lie on the floor with his head resting on Patton's lap. He felt Patton begin to play with his hair, and wasn't sure whether he should close his eyes and fall asleep or knock Patton's hands away. Eventually, he just decided to relax. 

"If we can figure out how to use the scale," Logan said, "we should be fine." 

Virgil glanced over at him, watching him turn the scale around in his fingers. He then glanced up at Patton, who was staring down at him fondly. Virgil shot them a quick smile, and he swore he could see Patton blushing. 

"Oh!" Logan exclaimed, disrupting Patton and Virgil's peace. He fumbled around in his pocket, eventually producing a small veil containing some sort of blue liquid. 

Patton broke away from Virgil's gaze, now looking at Logan. "What is it?" they asked. 

"Back at the Tahlia Inn, the barmaid made these potions for me using the dragon scale," he quickly explained. "We may be able to replicate that with Declan's scale to make a potion for us all to use. I believe that the potion is used to transfer the scales magic into a liquid form, so it can then be transferred to those taking the potion. Meaning if we make the potion using Declan's scale, we'll be able to have their magic for a limited amount of time." 

Patton smiled. "That sounds like a plan! How... How do you make the potion?" 

Logan hummed, frowning a little. "I'm not sure. She put the scale in a liquid of sorts - I believe it was water but I may be wrong. And then she crushed the scales up along with some flowers and... and rocks from Tahlia Falls." 

Virgil turned on his side to face Logan. "So flowers, rocks, and water. We can do that, right?" 

"It may actually prove to be a little difficult," Logan said. "We're in the middle of a desert, so water may be hard to come by. We're underground, so flowers will be hard to come by too - added to the fact that I believe it has to be a certain type of flower to make it work, perhaps not the flower used with the dragon scale but one more suited for what is needed. As for the rocks... It wasn't the rocks that were important, it was the magic in them." He scooped up a bit of sand off the floor. "These tunnels are magical, so the sand should work." 

"I can grow some flowers," Patton offered. "I don't know if that will help, but-" 

"That's perfect, actually," Logan said. "When you grow flowers you transfer some of your magic to them, so it should do well for the potion." 

Patton grinned. "Great!" They placed a hand on the floor next to them and lifted it up, a small cactus emerging from the sand. "Hmm. That's not a flower." 

"No, a cacti is even better," Logan reassured them. "It's a desert plant, so it should actually add to the potions effect." 

"Oh, yay!" Patton cheered. 

"Now we just need water..." 

"Do we have any in the bags?" Virgil wondered. 

"Hmm?" Logan glanced at him. 

"Like, would drinking water work?" he clarified. 

"Oh my gods, Virgil, you're a genius." 

He reached into his bag and pulled out a flask of water, along with a couple of bowls - presumably for mixing. He placed the scale into one of the bowls and poured in some water, holding the bowl away as the liquid began to bubble but placing it down on the ground as it settled down. He then carefully picked up the cactus and placed it in a separate bowl, adding in the sand and mashing it up with a spoon before moving it to the liquid, now beginning to turn green. 

After a few moments, a small eruption exploded from the bowl, causing all three of them to jump back - Virgil up onto his feet - before the potion calmed down. A green liquid swirled in the bowl, emitting golden sparks. Logan peered into the bowl, smirking a little. He picked it up and took a sip, his eyes widening. 

"Is it working?" Patton asked, as Logan handed the bowl to them. 

"I think so," Logan said. "I definitely feel... colder." 

Patton took a sip as well. "Yeah! It does- Oh." He smiled. "I think it's working. Virgil?" 

Virgil took the bowl and drank from it, trying his best not to think. It didn't taste awful, he supposed, but... it was weird. Cold rushed through his body, making him shiver. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. 

"Well," Logan said, "let's get on up there and hope we don't immediately combust into flames." 

He stood up, pulling Patton up with him, and began to walk up towards the staircase. Virgil followed, picking up his own bags and placing the now empty bowl inside. The three of them ascended up the stairs, following the sunlight up to the surface. When they reached the outpost, standing directly in the middle, they luckily didn't die from the heat or get shot on sight. 

A Denemi soldier approached them, looking somewhat skeptical. "Who are you?" 

"We're travellers from the Academy," Logan stated, standing up straight. "We've just come from the Tahlia Falls Outpost in Aquantur, with supplies for your outpost. I believe you should have been informed about our arrival." 

“Ah, yes.” The soldier nodded. “Follow me, we should get you guys inside before the heat gets to you.” 

“Thank you,” Logan said, following the soldier into the base. He led them to the corner of the room, where supplies had been stacked up. 

Turning around, the soldier glanced at them, frowning. “Wait, how are you guys not already dead? A Nochee, Lanamian, and a...” 

“Therban,” Virgil told him. 

“...and a Therban shouldn’t be able to survive the heat, not even for that short walk.” 

“We took a potion,” Logan explained, as the group went to put the supplies onto the pile. 

The soldier hummed. “Shouldn’t you have a Denemi anyway? Surely sending them up would be a better choice.” 

Logan cringed. “Uh, we do have a Denemi, but they’re a little preoccupied right now.” 

“Hmm.” The soldier didn’t seem to buy that. 

“Anyway,” Logan said, “that’s everything. I suppose we should be getting off now-“ 

“Wait a second,” the soldier said, “what’s your Denemi doing?” 

Logan hesitated. “Uh, that’s classified, I’m afraid.” 

“We’re fighting in the war,” the soldier said. “You can trust us, you know.” 

“It’s Academy business, I’m afraid,” Logan said. “And besides, we got the job done without them.” 

The soldier considered that. “Yes, I suppose so.” 

“Now,” Logan said, “we really ought to be getting on our-“ 

A soldier ran into the room, panting. “There’s- There’s been news from Dahma-“ 

Oh no. That didn’t sound good. Virgil tried his best to disappear. 

“There has?” the first soldier said, approaching the new soldier. 

“Yeah.” She took several deep breaths. “Some Denemi on the run. An outlaw, I think. He was accompanied by a couple Silvalans, a Nochee, a Lanamian, and a Therban.” 

Brilliant. Just brilliant. Absolutely perfect. 

“Oh?” The soldier glanced at the three of them. “Well, I think we may have-“ 

Virgil grabbed Logan’s and Patton’s arms, sprinting out of the outpost and back down the staircase. The three of them ran through the tunnels, continuing to head east as they tried to find the exit to Denemuis as quickly as possible. 

The soldiers were following them, gaining on them much quicker than Virgil would have liked. He picked up the speed, summoning some shadows as well to cover them as they ran. Patton pushed their hands out and released their magic to further down the tunnel, causing a few large cacti to grow from the walls and block the soldiers, or at least slow them down. When Virgil’s shadow eventually faded, the soldiers were long gone, and the exit to Denemuis was in sight.


	23. Chapter 23

The three finally came to a stop when Remus collapsed onto the ground, completely out of breath. 

"Declan!" Roman shouted, grabbing their wrist and forcing them to stop. They turned around to face him, annoyed, and tried to pull their hand back, but failed. "We need to stop for a while, okay?" 

Meanwhile, Remus had laid down on the grass, trying to get her breath back. They had left Denemuis a while ago, she thought, but Declan had refused to stop running. Remus was pretty sure she had never done this much running in her life - apart from maybe in the heat of battle, but that was different. Even as a _kid_ she couldn't really run that much without quickly losing stamina. 

"We don't have _time_ to rest, Roman, we have to-" 

"Declan," Roman interrupted, "it's okay. Nobody is following us." 

"The soldiers-" 

"We've lost them," Roman reassured them. "They won't leave Denemuis. You're safe." 

"How- How can you know that?" Declan said, breathing heavily. 

"I don't," Roman admitted, "but we're out of Denemuis, and that's what matters. This is Therba. They can't hurt you here." 

Declan looked as though they wanted to argue more, but sighed and went to sit down near Remus. Roman soon joined them. 

"We'll just take a short break," they decided. "Then carry on moving." 

"Alright," Roman said. 

Once Remus had finally got a grip back on reality, she sat up. "Please don't tell me we have to run any more." 

"We can walk the rest of the way," Roman said. 

"No, we absolutely cannot," Declan disagreed. "If they're still following us, then we need to move as quickly as possible." 

"They're not following us, Declan," Roman said. 

"You don't know that." 

"Stop arguing, you two," Remus interrupted, growing tired of all of this. "Maybe they are following, maybe they're not. All we can do is carry on with the mission. If the soldiers find us again, we can fight them, right?" 

"Fighting the soldiers is what got me into this mess," Declan grumbled. 

"You were a kid then, Declan," Roman reminded them. "You've trained since then. You're amongst the best soldiers of Silvales. You can take them. _We_ can take them." 

"The Denemi soldiers are amongst the best soldiers in the _world_ ," Declan countered. "And _I'm_ a Denemi. They _know_ my weaknesses. They know _how_ to fight me."

"You may be a Denemi, but you were trained as a Silvalan," Roman said, causing Declan to grow quiet. "I was trained as a Silvalan soldier too. And Remus' magic is powerful - I know she doesn't really show it much, but I've seen what her magic can do. We'll be fine." 

Remus wasn't entirely sure what Roman was on about in terms of her magic, because she definitely wasn't all that powerful. She could kill, that was for sure, and it was easy for her to summon her magic, but she never really considered herself to be powerful. She wasn't a great magic user, she was an even worse fighter, and she constantly wondered why she was still allowed on these missions. Perhaps it had something to do with her being the Princess of Silvales - she suspected that was why Roman was on these missions, so chances were that was her reason as well. 

She opened up her palm and began to play with her magic, watching a ball of poison grow and shrink and float around in the air, occasionally spluttering and hitting her skin. The poison never really affected her, which was weird, considering it would leave anybody else with pretty nasty burns, but she supposed it was her own magic so maybe it just couldn't hurt her. She watched a droplet fizzle away, sinking into her skin, before closing her fist and destroying the ball. 

"Could you not do that?" Roman requested. 

Remus glanced up. "Not do what?" 

"Y'know. The weird 'poisoning your hand' thing." 

She raised her eyebrow. "You mean use my powers?" 

"It scares me," Roman said. "Like, you could hurt yourself." 

"It doesn't affect me," Remus replied. "It affects _other_ people, of course, but not me." 

"It really hurts when that poison hits skin, though." 

Remus shrugged. "Never hurts me. Just leaves a nice, tingly feeling." 

"Please don't describe it at _tingly_." 

"We need to move," Declan interjected, standing up. 

Remus groaned. "We _just_ sat down." 

"They're still coming. I can... I can feel it." 

Roman sighed, but stood up as well, joining Declan by their side. Reluctantly, Remus also stood up, beginning to follow the couple from behind. They didn't run this time, at least, but a sense of anxiety still hung in the air, like Declan was certain that things were going to go horribly wrong and they wanted everyone else to feel the same way too. 

They made their way across the Therban fields, just grass to begin with but as they headed deeper into Therba they began to come across farms growing wheat and a variety of vegetables. Every now and then a Therban farmer would pass by, glancing at the three of them with slight concern and almost disgust in their eyes. The three of them stayed away from the main path, though, trying their best to interact with as little Therbans as possible. 

Therba was a weird place. It always has been, especially for a group of Academy students such as themselves. There was just _no magic_ here - which was fine with Remus, she didn't _need_ to use her magic, but it still made her feel... weak. Weaker than she already was. Even if she wasn't great at magic, she could at least feel it rooted within her, feel the magic all around her, but not in Therba. Therba fucking sucked. 

It wasn't _so_ bad for people like Remus, she supposed, whose powers weren't really connected to her life force, and who didn't really use much of her magic anyway, aside from in combat. For people like Logan and Patton, though, whose magic was so deeply rooted in who they are and where they come from, it's a lot more difficult. Maybe that's intentional. The Therbans don't like magic - that's a well known fact, the reason why there isn't much magic in Therba. Maybe they shoved the magic out so that those who relied on magic would stay far away. Didn't really work, though, since magic users, especially those in the army, passed through quite frequently, heading between fronts in Divitunia and Ignebris, or sometimes coming down from Denemuis. 

Eventually, the three of them reached the first village - Finsby Village, famous for hosting the Finsby Woods Market. They passed by this village whenever they travelled through Therba, since the market was the best place to stock up on supplies - it was cheap and had just about everything they needed. Some townsfolk were willing to pay for them to do tasks as well, meaning if they were running low on funds it was always easy to get more. 

"Do you think we should head to the inn?" Roman wondered. 

"No," Declan replied. "Logan has all the papers. He should sort it out."

"Right, right." He hummed. "What do we do then?" 

"Wait." 

"Oh." 

Declan and Roman went to sit down in the village centre, around a waterfall in the middle. Remus watched them as they began to do disgusting couple stuff that she'd rather not watch her brother do, before deciding that this really wasn't a great place for her. 

"I'm gonna go for a wander," she said. 

Roman sighed. "Don't leave the village." 

"Of course I won't." She was absolutely going to leave the village. Specifically because Roman had just not her not to. 

Well, that maybe wasn't the full reason - part of her wanted to check out Finsby Woods again, since it was one of the few sources of magic in Therba. It wasn't a particularly strong source, but... last time she came, she had felt a sort of connection to it. A warm, tingly feeling, a sense that her powers were growing. She wanted to feel that again. Maybe figure out what it was. 

Logan, Patton and Virgil would be a while, anyway. A little trip into the forest wouldn't hurt. 

Remus began to skip down the cobbled street of Finsby, occasionally glancing at a stall to either side. Nothing particularly exciting on sale - 'exciting' things were reserved for the market. 

"Your hair's green!" a small girl exclaimed, looking up at Remus as she walked down the street. 

Remus smirked. "Wow, thank you for noticing." 

"Can I touch it?" she asked. 

Smiling, Remus bent down so she was at the same level as the child and allowed her to run her fingers through her hair, giggling. Remus noticed the girl's mother standing a few feet away, arms folded and eyes filled with anger. She quickly stood up. 

"I think your mother's waiting for you," she said. 

The girl turned around. "Oh." She turned back to Remus and waved. "Thank you!" she said, before running over to her mother. Remus saw her mother scold the child - she knew that was because Remus was a magic user, because that was just how Therba was, but Remus looked away and tried to ignore it, not wanting to draw any more attention to herself. She began to walk faster towards the forest. 

It wasn't long before she had reached the end of the main street and stepped off the cobblestone onto the dirt, heading into the forest. A few Therbans were scattered around the path, presumably heading over towards the market in the centre of the woods. Humming, Remus strayed from the path and zigzagged her way through the trees, following a pathway forged as the magic around her grew stronger. 

Her poison began to swarm at her feet, causing the leaves on the ground to disintegrate around her. Oh, nice. Killing nature. She lifted her hand and allowed the poison to take root around her body, some sinking into her skin around her waist. 

The poison just kept on coming though. Eventually, she stopped, beginning to get annoyed. 

"Would you _stop_ , maybe?" she shouted, at her feet. It didn't work, obviously, since the poison didn't understand words. She tried to shove the magic back inside her and continued walking. 

Eventually, she reached a small pond, where she sat down and stared in the water. Her skin was now stained green around her cheeks due to the poison. Brilliant. She reached down into the pond and scooped up some water, in an attempt to get the stain away. It... sort of worked - the green died down a little, at least - but the poison was still there. It wasn't burning her and her skin wasn't absorbing it - it was just stuck there. 

She looked at her reflection, watching the water ripple as leaves from the trees around her fell onto the surface. Glancing around, she noticed that some of the trees had become infected with her poison, causing them to shed some of their leaves - great, killing even more nature. This was going brilliantly. 

Some of her poison leaked into the pond, causing a swirl of green algae to grow on the surface. It hadn't appeared to affect the water, at least. Just the trees and the flowers and Remus herself, apparently. 

Her magic wasn't retreating. It only seemed to grow more and more. That was... just a little bit concerning. She wasn't sure if she'd ever let out this much magic before. 

Without thinking or knowing why, she reached out towards the water, placing her hand on the surface. That warm, tingly feeling she had felt the last time began to course through her veins, growing with every passing millisecond. Scared, for some reason, she withdrew, staring back down at her reflection. Her eyes had begun to glow. 

So had the pond. Where the algae had formed, a green light was emitted from the water. A smile growing across her face, Remus shuffled into the water and laid down, still not really thinking about or understanding her actions. That feeling grew, her powers growing stronger and stronger. 

And then everything stopped.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: discussions of bad family relations, religion

"Maybe we could hire a carriage," Patton suggested, as the three of them walked down the main road through Therba. 

"Patton, we're not hiring a carriage," Logan said, firmly. 

"But we've been walking for _ages_ ," they moaned. "And my legs hurt and at this rate we're _never_ going to catch up with the others." 

"Patton, we've been walking for twenty minutes." 

"It feels like it's been _weeks_." 

"It has been _twenty minutes_." 

"Where are we actually going?" Virgil asked, halting Logan and Patton's argument. 

"Finsby Village," Logan stated.

Virgil frowned. "Then why are we taking the main road?" 

Logan glanced at him. "Because that's the way the Finsby Village?" 

"Well, yeah, but there are so many other quicker ways to get to Finsby," Virgil claimed. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Like what?" 

Virgil shrugged. "Take the footpath around Pokkin Field, cut through Finsby Woods." 

Logan blinked. "And... that way is quicker?" 

"That's the way my mother and I always went when we visited the market," Virgil said. "The carriage would drop us off at Pokkin Field 'cause that was cheaper, and we'd go through the forest to the village. Nobody walks around the main road anymore, anyway." 

"How long would it take?" Patton asked. 

Virgil shrugged. "Depends how the forest is feeling. It'll be quicker, though." 

Logan hummed. "Lead the way, then." 

Virgil smirked. "Alright." He turned off the path and through a field, Patton and Logan sharing a concerned glance before following him. Pokkin Field was on the other side of this field, and going around the main road would add another hour onto their journey just to reach the shortcut, so heading through this field was a better choice. 

Patton tapped his shoulder. He turned his head, noticing that the other two had stopped. "Uh, Virgil?" 

"What?" 

They pointed meekly at something in front of Virgil. He turned around to look at whatever was concerning Patton. _Ah_. A Crollox. He remembered Roman mentioning that they had had trouble with those guys in the past. The bull-like creature was staring at Virgil, it's tusks pointing towards him in a threatening manner. Virgil sighed. 

"Stay back, I'll handle it," he told the other two, stepping towards the beast before they had a chance to protest. 

He walked straight towards it, determination in his eyes. It growled at him and began to charge forewords, tipping it's head down so that it's tusks were pointed directly at Virgil. If it got any closer, those tusks could pierce directly through Virgil's chest, possibly causing a life-threatening injury. That wouldn't happen, though. 

Virgil stopped and held out his hand, palms facing towards the beast. A small bit of shadow leaked out from his hand, but he somehow managed to will it away from the Crollox before it got too close. When it _did_ get too close, it stopped, it's tusks very nearly touching Virgil's hands. 

Smiling a little, Virgil moved his hand around it's head, scratching underneath it's neck. It let out a low growl, almost like a purr, as Virgil brought up his other hand and started to stroke the brown hair around its face. Eventually, the beast fell to the floor, rolling around in the dirt, happy. Virgil patted it on the head, before turning back to the others. 

"Okay, it's safe!" he called, moving away from the Crollox. 

Cautiously, Logan and Patton made their way back towards Virgil, staying as far away from the Crollox as they could. He rolled his eyes, but continued leading them through the field anyway. 

"How did you do that?" Patton asked, coming up besides Virgil. 

"They like being tickled under their neck," Virgil stated. 

Logan glanced back at the Crollox, now fallen asleep on the ground. "Is that a normal reaction for them?" 

"Yeah." Virgil smirked. "My parents had a Crollox. They were farmers." 

Logan pushed his glasses up his nose. "I did kind of assume your parents were farmers." 

"Yup. They taught me how to deal with the Crollox's," he continued. "They'd never let me near their farm, though. 'Cause, y'know. Big ol' cloud of death surrounding me twenty-four/seven." 

Patton frowned. " _Cloud of death_?" 

"I know, I know, it's just shadow," Virgil said, "but it can also kill things. Like plants. And, y'know, what we used to grow on the farm." 

"You're not killing anything right now," Logan noticed. 

"I was a kid back then," Virgil said. "Didn't really know how to control my powers. My parents weren't magic themselves, and neither was anyone in my village, so didn't really have anyone to teach me, either." 

Logan blinked. "If... If your parents aren't magic, then how can you-"

"I don't know," Virgil interrupted, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I have no idea where any of this came from. My parents don't either. They... They _tried_ to stop it but clearly it didn't work. That's kind of the reason I'm here right now." 

"You're here now because you're a powerful magic user," Logan said. 

"I'm _here_ now because my parents couldn't stand the fact that their child was magical," Virgil said, a twinge of anger in his voice. Not at Logan, though it probably sounded that way, but more at... Therba in general. Growing up as a 'powerful magic user' in Therba was just about the worst thing that could happen. 

They had reached the end of the field now. Virgil led them a little bit of the way down the main road, before turning off onto a footpath heading around Pokkin Field. They'd only been walking about about fifteen minutes across the field, so things were going well, Virgil supposed. 

"Do your parents actually think that?" Patton asked, their voice quiet. 

Virgil sighed. "They're Therban. What do you think?" 

"You're also Therban, though," Logan stated. 

Virgil scoffed. "Barely. I... was born here, I guess, but as soon as they could my parents sent me away to the Academy. The teachers there raised me better than Therba ever could. And the teachers there didn't even talk to me that much, but they _still_ managed to respect me more than my parents ever did." 

After a moment of silence, Logan said, "I'm sorry." 

Virgil glanced at him. "Huh?" 

"I'm sorry that we're bringing you back here," he clarified. "It sounds like you-" 

"It's fine," Virgil said. "I can deal with it." 

"But-" 

"Seriously, it's chill," Virgil reassured him. "It's not as if you're making me talk to my family." 

Patton hummed. "Would you want to talk to your family." 

"No," Virgil said, a little too quickly. So quickly that he began to doubt himself. 

Subconsciously, he raised his hand, feeling around the charm on his necklace. His mother's necklace. The one that she wore all the time, that she gave to him before sending away. The promise that she would be with him always. 

"Maybe," he said, changing his mind. "Honestly, I don't think they'd be willing to talk anyway." 

Patton seemed somewhat distressed at that. 

"It's fine!" Virgil smiled. "I don't need them. I have the Academy. I have you guys." 

Patton's distress immediately faded away upon Virgil saying that. Their eyes lit up. "Are you saying we're your family?"

Against his will, Virgil began to blush. He hunched his shoulders and tried his best to hide it. "I've haven't known you guys long enough for that. But... I definitely _care_ more about y'all than I do for my family." 

Patton threw an arm around Virgil's shoulder. "It's okay if you think of us as family. I think of the others as family, so I don't see why you'd be any different." 

Virgil stopped walking, nearly losing his balance as Patton still stepped forward, bringing Virgil with them. Patton stopped and turned their head, glancing at Virgil with concern.

"Are you...?" 

"I'm fine," Virgil said. "Just... I don't think of you guys as family." 

He wasn't lying, exactly, but... part of him was beginning to doubt that. These guys had been nicer to him than anyone else ever had been in his life. Heck, they were probably the _only_ people who had ever been nice to him without an obligation. And Patton was sweet, so sweet - Virgil had only known them for a very short amount of time, but he could see himself spending the rest of his life with them. He _wanted_ to spend the rest of his life with them. Was that normal? 

He noticed that the last statement had seemingly made Patton upset. They drew their arm away, hanging it at their side. 

"I-I mean, you guys are awesome, really," Virgil quickly said. "Seriously, you're the best people I've ever met. I just..." 

Patton glanced down for a second, before looking back up, an optimistic smile across their face. "You're not ready yet. That's cool. We haven't known you long." They turned around and continued walking down the path, now entering Finsby Woods. Virgil and Logan slowly followed, dropping the conversation. 

"So," Logan said, apparently trying to break the awkwardness, "this is Finsby Woods?" 

"Yup," Virgil said with a nod. "Only about another half an hour before we reach the village. 

Patton spluttered. "Half an hour?!" 

Virgil shrugged. "It's a big forest. Biggest one in Therba." 

Logan frowned. "We don't usually spend that long travelling around Finsby Woods." 

Virgil hummed. "What do you usually do here?" 

"We usually stop by the market," Logan stated. 

"Ah." Virgil sighed. "The market is one the other side of the woods, near Finsby Village. We took the back entrance into the forest. Very far from the market." 

"I thought the market was in the centre?" Logan said. 

Virgil shook his head. "It's in what the Finsby lot say is the centre. The _heart_ of the forest, I suppose. But geographically speaking it is definitely not the centre." 

"Interesting." Logan raised his arm and wrote something down. 

"Are you sure this way is quicker?" Patton asked. 

"If we went by the main road, we'd still have another three hours of walking," Virgil said. 

"Oh." Patton hummed. "Well. Half an hour isn't so bad." They raised their hand and began to summon small flowers, which they threw about the forest, causing bigger plants to sprout on the path. 

Logan blinked. "How... How are you doing that?" 

Patton frowned. "This is what I do?" 

"No, I mean, how are you using magic so easily in Therba?" Logan wondered. 

Patton glanced down at their hand, confusion growing across their face. "Oh yeah. That's weird." 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Can you guys not use magic in Therba?" 

"Not _usually_ ," Logan muttered. "I can sometimes get a little bit out, but it's exceedingly difficult." 

"Same for me," Patton added. "Usually I'm completely stripped of powers here." 

Virgil noticed the cloud of darkness around his ankles grow larger, and this time he didn't try to shove it down. "Maybe it's the woods. This is the only power source in Therba, I'm pretty sure." 

"This is a power source?" Logan repeated, skeptically. 

"Yeah," Virgil said. "There's legends about this place, about fairies that used to live amongst the trees, about ancient gods that slept around here. The stories were banned a couple centuries ago, but people still tell them." 

"Ancient gods?" Logan seemed to be interested by that. 

"Forest gods, they used to say," Virgil continued. "The gods of trees, leaves, plants, nature, animals. All of that stuff. Guardians, I suppose." He shrugged. "Therban's don't worship them anymore. Most of us here worship only one God. I mean, I'm not exactly one for religion in the first place, but the old gods have been lost to time, I suppose." 

Logan shook his head. "We worship the ancient gods up in Nochae. _I_ worship them, actually. I pray more towards the star and night gods, as with a lot of my people, but we tell stories of a forest filled with ancient nature gods. I... I never knew that this was where they originated from." 

Virgil glanced at him. "Do you actually believe in those old stories?" 

Logan blinked. "I... take comfort in them, I suppose. Believing that there is some higher power watching over us, helping us." 

Virgil scoffed. "No gods have ever helped me." 

"It's different in Nochae," Logan stated. "Our magic is so deeply rooted in our worship that it's almost impossible not to believe in it. The gods have helped me. They help me every single day." 

Virgil grew quiet at that. 

"It's alright if you don't, or if you can't, believe in that," Logan reassured him. "You are your own person and you can believe whatever you wish." 

"I'm not religious either," Patton said. "Worship isn't really a thing in Lanamia." 

"Literally stop making me want to move to Lanamia," Virgil said, jokingly. 

Fuck - did he want to move to Lanamia? Everything that Patton had said about it sounded amazing, and it looked beautiful, and _must_ have been better than Therba. He figured that he'd have to move somewhere after he was too old to attend the Academy. He had always assumed that in the end he'd just move back to Therba, hopefully able to hide his magic from everyone else, but... Lanamia certainly sounded tempting. Especially if Patton was there. Virgil would probably live _anywhere_ with Patton. 

He shook that thought away. Why was his brain suddenly obsessed with the idea of living with Patton? He barely knew them, and they had their own life anyway, and it wasn't as if they were in love or anything. 

Huh. That was a weird thought. Virgil tried his best not to think about it. 

"I would like to learn more about these ancient forest gods, though," Logan said. "Mostly to see if it matches up with what I've been told, but also because... I'm curious." 

"I can tell you what I know," Virgil offered. 

"That would be nice." 

He smirked. "Alright. When we settle down somewhere for a bit I'll give you a crash course." 

"Perfect."

Patton frowned. "Hey, guys?" 

Virgil and Logan glanced at each other, before looking back at Patton. "Yeah, Pat?" Virgil asked. 

"I'm not imagining that green glow, right?" they said, pointing off the path.

Virgil followed their gaze, his eyes widening as he saw what they were talking about. A bright green, almost sickening light burst through the trees, spreading out across the forest floor. Humming, Virgil stepped towards it, the other two following him. He ducked underneath a lower branch and cut his way through a bush, eventually coming to a pond emitting that green light. 

A young satyr laid in the middle of the lake, the green light bursting out of her eyes. She looked familiar, somehow, but... 

"Remus?" Logan exclaimed, rushing over to the pond side.

He stepped inside and pushed through the algae, water up to his waist. Virgil and Patton watched in concern as he lifted Remus' body up from the lake, a green liquid leaking out of Remus' skin and attaching itself to Logan, smoke beginning to rise from Logan's arms. 

Logan glanced up at the others, his eyes filled with fear. "Go find Roman and Declan." 

Patton and Virgil nodded, rushing back through the forest towards Finsby Village and leaving Logan alone in the pond, holding on tight to Remus.


	25. Chapter 25

Leaning their full weight onto Roman, Declan closed their eyes, finally feeling safe enough to relax. They felt Roman's arms reach around their shoulders, and Roman pulled them closer, allowing them to bask in his warmth. Roman was holding tight and he didn't seem willing to let go. 

In that moment, they felt as though they could fall asleep. After running for so long, they probably needed it - but, they were exposed in the middle of the village, so fully falling asleep wasn't an option. They could sense people moving around them, feel people watching them, sneering at them. They opened their eyes and sat up, much to Roman's dismay as they shoved his arms off them. 

"Are you alright?" he asked, reaching for their hand. 

Declan swiped their hand away before Roman's hand made it, placing their hands on their knees and turning their body away slightly. "Yeah. I'm fine." 

Roman didn't seem to believe them, but said nothing else about it. "Do you want to move from here?" he asked instead. "We could head to the field round back, plenty of open space for some training." 

"You _always_ suggest that," Declan said. 

Roman made an offended noise. "I do not!" 

"You do," Declan insisted. "Every time you think I'm feeling down, you just suggest that we fight." 

"Do... Do you have a problem with that?" 

Declan glanced down. They didn't, not really. Sparing with Roman was always great, for both of them. It gave Declan a solid distraction, and allowed both of them to build up their skills, and they had to admit that Roman was somehow even more attractive with a sword in his hand. And fighting probably _would_ make them feel better - it always gave them a boost in confidence, and they really needed that after talking to _them_ the day before. 

"Fine," Declan said, "we can train." 

Roman's eyes lit up. "Really?" 

"Yeah," Declan said, standing up and beginning to walk through the village, to a field just west of the village centre. "It's not as if we have anything better to do." 

"I mean, we could just carry on cuddling," Roman muttered. 

Declan shot him a death glare. 

"Or we could go train," he corrected, his voice jumping an octave higher. "Yup, training sounds good." 

Declan smirked and continued to lead him away, until they had walked a little bit into the field and got themselves into position. They both drew their swords and began to fight, going slowly at first as they just practised striking and blocking in turns. Eventually things began to get a little more heated, and they fought for real, the sound of iron clanging together spreading out across the field. 

Roman surged forward and Declan blocked it, the metal almost touching their face. They let out a breath, before pushing their sword forward, swinging it downwards to get Roman's sword away. Roman took another step forward and Declan stepped back, failing to block Roman's next attack as their sword grew heavy in their hand. 

Their sword dropped to the floor, a sudden burst of pain rushing through their arm. Roman stepped back, his eyes wide open in shock. Declan lifted up their hand to their shoulder, wincing in pain upon contact, then drew away and stared at their blood-soaked hand. 

Roman's sword fell to the floor too as he rushed over to Declan's hand, ripping off part of his sleeve to create a make-shift bandage around the cut. Declan tried to get Roman off him, but eventually settled into it, knowing that Roman was currently their best bet of cleaning up the wound. 

The wound that _Roman_ had made. Declan's thoughts were in jumbles as they tried to comprehend that fact - Roman, their prince, their _boyfriend_ had hurt them. And... it couldn't have been intentional, they couldn't imagine a situation in which Roman would _intentionally_ hurt them, but... but they couldn't help but feel almost _betrayed_. 

That was dumb. They loved Roman more than anything. But in all their years of training together, Roman had never once let it go that far. He'd never let his sword cut Declan, not once. 

"I'm sorry," Roman said, "I didn't mean-" 

"It's fine," Declan spat, sounding a little too aggressive. 

Thinking about it, Declan had never _let_ Roman hurt them. They'd always been so careful in fights with one another. Sure, they'd throw each other about and take the battle seriously, but they'd always give the other a chance to block. Declan very rarely missed their blocks. They very rarely lost a fight with Roman. _Especially_ this early in their training. 

So what had happened this time? Why had Declan let their guard down so easily? How had they been so distracted that they'd actually let Roman tear through their skin? 

Roman was holding them in his arms now, almost crying into their shoulder. "I'm really, really sorry. I-" 

Declan pushed him off them, wincing again as they moved their arm. Roman looked at them for a second, an almost hurt expression on his face, but then he turned away. 

"Let's just get back to the village," Declan said, standing up and retrieving their sword. They went to get Roman's sword too, but stopped as they noticed it was covered in blood. _Their_ blood. They turned away, deciding to leave Roman to get it instead, and went back to the village, not bothering to wait for Roman to follow. 

Roman did follow, though, staying a few metres behind. There was an air of awkwardness between them, as Declan's thoughts swarmed around their brain, half of them wanting to cut Roman completely out of their life and the other wanted to hug him and cry onto his shoulder. The first option didn't exactly sound appealing, no matter how betrayed Declan felt in that moment - they kept reminding themselves that Roman was the best thing to ever happen to them, that without him he'd be left with nothing. 

That last bit was true, at least. Without Roman, Declan would still be wandering the continent, constantly on the run from Denemuis, constantly trying to find somewhere safe. If they cut Roman out of their life now, that meant cutting out all their other friends, and cutting out Roman's family, so they'd be left with no home, no allies, and no place to go. They'd probably end up dead within a month, likely at the hands of the Denemi. 

But they supposed they could stop their current relationship with Roman and stick to just being his knight. Even if things ended between them, they'd still have their job, right? And they'd still be welcome in Silvales. But then again, if that were to happen chances were he'd no longer be welcome in Silvales. Not with Roman around. 

They shook those thoughts away, because they _weren't_ going to stop things with Roman. It was just a little scratch, something that would quickly heal. It was bound to happen eventually - just because it happened whilst Declan was at their lowest, doesn't mean that their relationship with Roman had to shatter. 

"Declan," Roman said, coming up to their side. "I swear to all the gods that-" 

"It's okay, Roman," Declan interrupted, not wanting to hear an apology. "It was a mistake. It was bound to happen eventually." 

"But I-" 

"Don't worry," Declan said. "I don't _hate_ you." 

"I _love_ you, Declan," Roman said, his hand reaching up to Declan's shoulder and hovering over it for a second, before he withdrew. "I need you to know that."

Declan sighed. "I do know that, Roman. I love you too. Now can we _please_ just forget about this?" 

Roman glanced down to the floor. "Alright. So-" 

Patton and Virgil came running up to them, looking somewhat distressed. Declan immediately forgot about what was going on with Roman, now focusing on what seemed to be a more important situation. 

"Remus is hurt," Virgil said, getting straight to the point. 

Roman's eyes widened. "She's _what_?" 

"We don't know what happened," Patton said, grabbing both of their hands and beginning to lead them back through the village, towards Finsby Woods. "We found her in the forest, she's... unconscious, I think. Logan is with her." 

Roman mumbled a Silvalan curse under his breath. "We told her to stay in the village." Roman began to run towards the forest, leaving the other three behind. Virgil sighed and quickly followed him, muttering something about showing Roman the way and letting them both catch up. Patton and Declan walked somewhat quickly as well, though not as fast, knowing that Roman probably needed a little more space anyway. He and Remus were close - she was his sister, chances were he felt like he needed to protect her. 

Patton glanced at Declan as they walked. "What happened to your arm?" they asked. 

Declan groaned. "I don't want to talk about it." 

"Was it the Denemi-" 

"I don't want to talk about it," Declan repeated harsher. 

Patton looked away. "Do you... Do you want me to heal it?" 

Declan shook their head. "No. It's fine. Doesn’t hurt." It did hurt, it hurt so much, more emotionally than physically but still _hurt._ But healing it would just be denying what happened, and they still felt conflicted over how they felt about Roman. "Remus is more important right now." 

The two walked in silence the rest of the way to the pond where Patton and the others had found Remus. Logan and Roman sat a little way off the shore, holding Remus between them. Her eyes were closed and her skin glowed a light green, her arms twitching a little. 

"Patton, thank the gods you're back," Logan said. "Could you-?" 

"On it," Patton interrupted, coming up besides Remus and beginning to walk their magic. Flowers spread across Remus' body, some petals turning green as her poison was sucked into them. 

"Will she be okay?" Roman asked. 

Patton hesitated. "Yes. She's alive, at least." 

"But will she-" 

"She isn't going to die," Patton reassured him, though they didn't sound too confident. 

"What even happened?" Declan asked, kneeling down besides Remus. 

"We don't know," Logan said. "We just found her in the lake. She was... glowing. The pond was too. Her poison had spread to the pond, or something, and she was lying in it, so... maybe that did something." 

Roman shook his head. "Her poison doesn't affect her. Something else must have happened." 

"Has she said anything these past few days?" Declan asked, looking over the rest of the group, who remained silent for a few moments. 

"She mentioned having nightmares," Roman said quietly. "I don't know if..." 

"It's not that," Logan said with absolute certainty. 

Roman frowned. "How would you know?" 

"Remus and I talk, y'know," Logan said, a hint of bitterness to his tone. "I wouldn't feel comfortable disclosing information about her nightmares, but I can assure you they are not the reason for this." 

The group fell silent once again as Patton continued to try their magic, moving their hand up to her forehead and pushing down one finger, petals growing around their fingertip. The glow around Remus had subdued a little, but she still wasn't waking up. 

Virgil stepped towards the pond, kneeling down and dipping his finger into the water. His cloud began to spread across the surface, battling with the green poison that was slowly beginning to replace the water. Sparks flew between Virgil's hand and the pond and he drew his hand away, rubbing it gently. 

Logan glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "What did you just do?" 

Virgil hummed. "This pond is magical. It's a Therban source." 

Logan frowned. "Care to elaborate on that?" 

"Something happened to Remus when she was in the pond," he guessed. "She must have connected to the power source, somehow. I don't know how she did, as a Silvalan, but her body must have become overwhelmed with the power from the pond and caused it to give up." 

Roman tensed up. "So... what do we do?" 

Virgil opened his mouth to suggest something, but stopped as Remus sat up, opening her eyes. The group stared at her in shock, completely lost for words. 

"What?" Remus said. "Is something wrong?"


	26. Chapter 26

Everyone was staring at her as though they had just seen a ghost. And _nobody_ would tell her what was wrong. Remus laughed, nervously. 

"Seriously, uh, did I miss something?" she asked. "Like, did somebody die a horrible and painful death." She blinked and looked down to the floor. "Did _I_ die a horrible and painful death?" 

The next moment, Roman had wrapped his arms around her, tightly. She froze, not really knowing how to react, as Roman had never really acted this way around her, but eventually she hugged back, awkwardly patting him on the back. 

"You scared us, Remus," he whispered, hugging tighter. 

She tried to push away, but ultimately failed. "Why won't anybody tell me what happened?" What had she done that had been so bad? She must have died, or something. Maybe she had died for, like, two seconds, and now she was back. What had even _happened_? 

Logan was hugging her too now, which was even more concerning since Logan wasn't exactly a touchy-feely person, and Remus was half tempted to break away and run off. _What_ was going on? But eventually they both pulled away, letting Remus breathe. 

Logan cleared his throat. "We found you lying in the pond," he explained. "You've been unconscious for... well, I don't know how long exactly, but at least since we found you about half an hour ago." 

Oh. That was definitely concerning. The last thing that Remus remembered was the pond glowing, and then complete darkness. Something... Something must have happened whilst she was in the pond. Her poison had leaked into the water, hadn't it? So maybe that did something... No, her poison didn't affect her. It couldn't have been that. 

"Do you feel any different?" Virgil asked, crouching down besides her. 

Remus frowned. "Uh. Not really? Just a little more confused." 

Virgil hummed. "Physically, though. Like, do you feel any stronger?" 

What the hell was he on about? And _how_ were those questions supposed to help? 

Although, thinking about it, she _did_ feel a little different. She felt stronger. Her poison coursed through her veins at a much higher speed, more aggressively and more powerfully. She felt _more powerful_. It was like when she touched the pond, that tingly feeling she got upon contact with the surface, except a thousand times stronger. Glancing down at the ground, she noticed her poison was still leaking out her skin, or maybe it had just started again, and it _scared_ her. 

"What the _fuck_ was in that water?" she eventually said, causing the others to glance at each other in confusion. 

Virgil moved closer. "The pond is a power source. It must have affected your powers somehow. Gave you more magic." 

Remus frowned. "That's not exactly how my magic works." 

Virgil sighed. "How _does_ your magic work?" 

Remus blinked. "I..." Huh. "I don't know." 

"Exactly." Virgil grabbed her hand, pulling her up and leading her back towards the pond. "Touch it again." 

"But-" 

"Just touch it." 

"Okay, okay." She lowered herself onto her knees and reached into the water, that tingly feeling somehow growing even stronger, clouding Remus' view before she blacked out again. 

The next time she woke up, Virgil was leaning over her, as she laid on the ground. He smirked. 

"What’s that look for?" she mumbled, closing her eyes and rolling to the side. 

Virgil rolled his eyes and pulled her up. She allowed him to do so, moving to sit cross-legged on the forest floor. 

"I think I just died again," she said. "Is it normal to die twice in the same day?" 

Virgil sighed. "You didn't die. You got overwhelmed with magic." 

Remus laughed. "The hell are you on about?" 

"This pond is your power source," he said. "Or one of them, at least. And it's a _powerful_ one, probably linked to one of the old gods-" 

"That can't be my power source," she said. "I'm a Silvalan." 

"I'm not saying it's your _primary_ power source," Virgil said. "It's unlikely that you've ever even drawn magic from here before today. But you can't deny that it didn't feed more magic into you." 

...he wasn't wrong. Remus could feel more magic than before. That was probably why her poison was still leaking out, because there was _so much_ of it. Remus had... Remus had never had this much power before. Not even at home in Silvales. 

"Well," Patton said, "if Remus is all good now, we should probably head to the village and let the inn know we're here." 

"You guys go ahead," she said, standing up. "I'm gonna stay here a while longer." 

"Remus-" 

"I'll be fine," she promised. "Just... need to think." She wandered back towards the pond, resisting the urge to touch it again. She was afraid that if she _did_ touch it, this time she wouldn't wake up. 

"Patton, take the group back to the village," Logan said. "I'll stay here with Remus." 

Remus turned her head ahead. "Logan, you don't have to-" 

"I'm staying," he said decisively. 

Remus sighed. "Alright." 

Logan smiled. "Great. I'll see you guys at the inn." 

The other reluctantly left, leaving Logan and Remus to stand besides each other by the pond. Remus stared down at her reflection, frowning. She didn't _look_ any different. She was still the same old her - weak, small, half-dead. It was just that _now_ she couldn't hold all her poison inside her. 

She glanced at Logan, noticing a small bit of green surrounded by burn marks on his arm. Her eyes widened. “Shit, did I-“ 

Logan reached up to his arm, covering the marks with his hands. “You didn’t do anything, don’t worry.” 

“No, that’s caused by my poison, I’m sure-“ 

“It’s alright, Remus,” Logan insisted. “It doesn’t hurt. It wasn’t your fault.” 

“But-“ 

“Seriously, it’s fine.” Logan smiled at her. “It’ll heal. Besides, we have more important things to be thinking about right now.” 

Remus glanced back down to the pond. “Yeah. I guess so.” She held her hands out in front of her, summoning a small ball of poison. It was bigger than usual, and harsher. It took every bit of Remus’ strength to keep it contained within her hands. 

“You should practise,” Logan said, stepping away a little. “See what you can do.” 

Remus raised an eyebrow. “What?” 

“I’m being serious,” Logan said. “You’ve got some poison, right? Try releasing it.” 

“But-“ 

“Don’t worry about me,” Logan said, apparently able to read Remus’ mind. “Just... try it.” 

She supposed it was worth a try. She pushed her hands out, letting the poison fly out in front of her. A beam shot across the pond and hit a rock on the other side, immediately causing it to explode into smaller stones, all covered in a green liquid slowly causing them to dissolve. She stepped back, shocked at the sheer amount of destruction she had just caused. 

Logan stared at her, grinning. “Remus, that was-“ 

“Terrible,” she interrupted. “I can’t just _do_ that.” 

“Remus,” he said again, coming up to her side and placing a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the smoke beginning to rise from his hand. “That was brilliant. You’ve never done _anything_ like that before.” 

“And I _shouldn’t_ ,” she said, moving away from Logan. When she looked back, she noticed small burn marks on one of his palms, and she tried to suck the poison back into her, afraid that she would hurt Logan again. 

But Logan just continued moving towards her. “You’ve always said that you _wished_ you had more power,” he reminded her, “and now you do.” 

And he wasn’t wrong. A part of her had always resented her brother for being so powerful, for being so skilled, and she _wanted_ to be like that. She still did. But... But not like this. Not in a way that made her unstable, a way that made her destructive, chaotic. 

“Listen, Remus,” Logan continued. “I know this power may scare you. But you’re strong, okay? And I’m not saying that because of your new power. I believe that you can control it. You can use this to your advantage. You can _help us win_.”

“I could help you win before,” she argued. “I was doing fine as I was.” 

“I didn’t say that you weren’t.” Logan sighed. “What I’m saying is, you don’t have to be afraid. You should be thankful that the gods-“ 

“The gods haven’t done _anything_ for me.” She bit her lip. 

Logan didn’t seem to know how to reply to that. 

“I know Virgil mentioned the old gods,” she continued, “but that means nothing. The pond is a power source, or whatever. That’s what happened. I don’t owe it to anyone to use this power. I don’t _want_ to hurt anybody.” 

Logan stepped towards her again, but this time she didn’t back off. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry, Logan,” Remus said, turning away from the lake and beginning to walk back through the forest. “I just... need to learn to control it, I guess. If some god really did give me this power, then great, I guess, kudos to them.” 

“I’m proud of you either way, y’know,” Logan said, following Remus by her side. 

Remus stopped. “No one has ever said that before.” 

Logan frowned. “What?” 

“No one has ever been _proud_ of me.” 

Logan reached down for Remus’ hand. This time, it didn’t burn. Remus let him take her hand, perhaps a little too eagerly than she should have. “Well, I’m proud of you, at least. And I love you, y’know. You’re probably my favourite person.” 

At that, Remus’ heart began to flutter. And she knew exactly why. Because that’s what she _wanted_ , really. She wanted Logan. She loved Logan more than anything - he was the one person she could talk to about anything, and who she’d listen to for hours on end without growing bored. She _loved_ him. 

And he just told her that he loved her as well. 

The next moment, Remus found herself hugging Logan, holding him tight, and Logan didn’t push away. Her poison swirled around them, causing a green glow to encapsulate them, hiding them from the world. But the poison didn’t hurt Logan. His magic spread around too, causing a bright light to hover over their heads and stars to dance in their vision. 

And then their lips were interlocked, and neither quite understood why or how. Remus had never really thought about it before, but, thinking back, she _had_ always wanted to kiss Logan. She always assumed that was just her brain being weird and suggesting dumb things, but maybe she really did want that. Maybe she wanted to be close to Logan, in that way. 

_That way._ What did that even mean? Neither of them had talked about it before, but both of them had to admit that spending the rest of their lives together was something they had both thought about. Remus had never wanted to tell Logan, but she _did_ love him, more than the usual amount. And they were friends, and neither really expected much more, but... but maybe they both wanted more, secretly. 

But why now? Why with him? Remus had never had so much even _thought_ about... romance, or whatever this was. A relationship that was more than friends. A relationship in which they were allowed to do things like _this_. It was only with Logan that... 

Gods, he was a good kisser. At least, she assumed that, because she was certainly enjoying whatever was going on. She’d never been kissed before, and she assumed that he hadn’t either. But now they were, now they were _doing that_ , and Remus _liked_ it. She liked the warmth spreading through her body at the contact with Logan’s skin. She liked the feeling of happiness she felt whenever she was in Logan’s presence, the feeling that only increased with the two intertwined like this. 

Eventually, they pulled away, and the barrier around them broke. They both took in deep breaths, smiling at each other and trying to catch up with the real world. A slight blush formed across Logan’s checks, and Remus imagined her face had turned bright red. 

But neither said anything. They just continued to walk back to the village, taking their hands back for themselves. Whatever that was, it was over now. It had been nice, and Remus desperately wanted it to happen again, but... 

For now, they had more important things to be worrying about.


	27. Chapter 27

Logan sat at a table in the bar area, staring into space, whilst he waited for Patton and Virgil to return with their drinks. He didn't know what had just happened, or why that had just happened, or what he was even thinking. He didn't understand _why_ he had felt the need to do that, what about Remus _made_ him want to do that. 

Because he didn't want to do that, not really. He'd never felt that way about anyone before. He'd seen the way that Roman and Declan acted for the first time long ago, and had since been certain that he didn't want that himself. Maybe it was his culture - 'romance' wasn't a particularly big thing back in Nochae, though some people did participate in it, of course. Logan himself, though, had never felt the desire to do so. 

Except with Remus, just then. He had thought about it before, although always tended to push the thought out, not really wanting to think about it. He'd expressed to Remus on multiple occasions that that kind of stuff wasn't his thing, and Remus had agreed, stating that she often felt the same. But... Logan wanted to do it. With Remus. And apparently she wanted the same. 

He noticed that a glass of water had been placed in front of him, and he began to drink, trying to zone back in to the conversation around him as he sank down into his chair. Roman was discussing his plans to go down to the market after they had eaten, apparently - which made sense, that had been the plan since the very beginning. They hadn't exactly planned on arriving at the village so soon, but, of course, things in Denemuis had gone by much quicker than expected. That was probably good, anyway - it meant that they'd reach Ignebris much sooner, and perhaps have the upper hand in the upcoming battle, the element of surprise. 

He tried to focus on that instead - on the plan ahead of them. It would be a few days journey through Therba, stopping off at some camping grounds and one more village along the way. Then they'd have to break through the entrance to Ignebris and find the Dragon Witches lair. A new one, that had just recently popped up near the border. It wouldn't be a long mission, just half a day's walk into Ignebris and a quick battle against the Dragon Witch. They'd done that before plenty of times, so this would be a walk in the park. A fiery park, filled with people who wanted them dead. 

Remus gently nudged his shoulder. "You okay?" 

Logan nodded. "Yes, of course." 

"If you want to talk about what-" 

"I don't." He didn't want to talk about it. He still needed time to think about all of that. Maybe Remus wanted to talk about it, maybe she was _ready_ to talk about it, but Logan wasn't. He had more important things to be worrying about, anyway. 

"I'm sorry if-" 

"You don't need to apologise," Logan said. "Let's just... forget about it, for now. Maybe we can talk when this whole thing is over." 

Remus seemed mildly disappointed, but, still, she moved away, going back to join Roman's conversation. Patton looked at Logan from the other side, and slid over towards him. 

"Did something happen?" they asked, smiling. 

A light blush spread across his cheeks. "No." 

Patton smirked at him, giving him a knowing glance. "C'mon, something happened, didn't it?" 

"Nothing happened," Logan snapped, maybe a little harsher than necessary. He noticed that it startled Remus as well, causing him to cringe. 

"You can tell me, y'know," Patton said, softly. "I won't make fun of you." 

Logan sighed. "I assure you, Patton, nothing interesting happened. Remus and I were just testing out her new power. That is it." 

"Oh." Patton slouched down in their chair. Thankfully, they dropped the conversation after that. "So, you excited about the market?" 

Logan rolled his eyes. "It's a market, what is there to be excited about?" 

"Y'know, cool stalls, maybe you'll find something nice-" 

"We're shopping for essential supplies, and that is all," Logan stated. 

Patton pouted. "But-" 

"We're on a serious mission here, Patton." Logan sighed. "The sooner we get to Ignebris, the better. Then this will all be over." 

Did he _want_ this to be over? He supposed he did, because then he'd be able to get back to the Academy and continue his studying. That was why he attended the Academy in the first place - not to go on long adventures like this and catch feelings for people that without the adventures he probably wouldn't talk to. _Catch feelings_ \- is that what happened? That didn't sound right. Feelings weren't Logan's thing. Especially romantic feelings. 

He glanced back at Remus, and for a second those feelings came back. He wanted more than anything to just hug her, kiss her, at least stay by her side. But that was stupid - why did he want to do that? And why now, when all of their lives were at risk? 

He wondered how Roman and Declan did it. How they managed to navigate their feelings so easily whilst all of this was going on. On all accounts, it didn't make sense - he didn't even know how they had _time_ to be worrying about their feelings during this war. Surely they had more important things to be worrying about. And yet, they'd been happily together for years, always finding time to express that love they felt for each other. 

Did Logan want to express his... his _love_ for Remus? He did love her, for sure. He'd told her that. She loved him back. But did that mean they had what Roman and Declan had? Did they _want_ that? 

Of course they did. Logan had always been exceedingly jealous of Roman, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Roman's life was so well put together - he was a prince, heir to the throne, passing all his classes (as was Logan, of course, but that was besides the point), one of the best fighters that Logan knew, and he still had time to figure out his own feelings. He had time to work it out _with_ Declan. And maybe Logan wanted to do so with Remus too. 

His glass was empty now, but he was still thirsty. None of their food had arrived yet. He stood up, grabbing his glass. 

"Anyone need anything?" he asked, to which he received five 'no's. "Alright, I'll be back in a moment."

Logan wandered over to the bar and placed his empty glass down, waiting for the bartender to come. He asked for another glass of water, laying a few coins to the bartender, and then began to drink, staying at the bar to get a little bit of space. He stood there for a while, drinking at least four more glasses of water before Patton came over to get him, informing him that their food had arrived. He brought another glass of water before heading back to the table, and began to eat. 

The food wasn't terrible, considering this was a pub. And he saved that last glass of water, at least, making it last the whole meal before he chugged the final bit. Soon after, everyone else was finished with their food as well. 

"Market now?" Roman suggested. 

Logan nodded. "Yes, that's a good idea." He stood up and began to leave the inn, the others following him.

Remus came up besides him. Part of Logan wanted to tell her to go away, but the rest of him desperately wanted to touch her again, so he let her stay, but kept his hands to himself despite his brain's protests. 

It wasn't a long walk to the market, and once they arrived the group split up, Roman leading Declan away to look at jewellery and Patton and Virgil wandering deeper in to browse. That left Logan with Remus to do the actual shopping they needed - which was fine, Logan knew exactly what to get, but things were still weird with Remus. 

"Hey," Remus said, as they began to move towards the food stalls, "I really think we should talk about what just happened." 

Logan sighed. "I-" 

"It's fine if you're not ready," Remus said, "but I don't want it to ruin what we already had going, y'know?" 

Logan smiled. "It doesn't change anything, don't worry. We're still friends." 

"I know that," Remus said, grabbing some fruit off one stall. "I mean, I'd _like_ it to be more, but if you're not ready for that I can wait." 

"And you're aware that you might be waiting forever, right?" That probably wasn't true. Chances were that one day they would have a real talk about this, and they _would_ become more, but that day wasn't today. Or any time in the near future, if Logan could help it. 

"I know," Remus said. "I'm willing to wait as long as you need." 

"I don't even know if I _want_ that-" 

"I'm sorry, Logan." 

"Don't be sorry." He sighed. "I'm the one that kissed you. I shouldn't have done that, knowing that it might not even be something that I want." 

Remus hummed. "Then... why did you do it?" 

Logan froze, his hand hovering over a piece of fruit. Taking in a deep breath, he forced himself to continue moving, putting the piece of fruit into a bag and going to pay before replying to Remus. 

"I don't know," he admitted. "In that moment I wanted to, I think. I've... wanted to before." 

Remus smirked. "Okay. That's good." 

He blinked. "Why?" 

"Because I’ve wanted to as well, all the time," she said. "I mean, it's totally cool if you're not ready for anything serious, _but_ if you ever wanna kiss me literally just ask." 

Logan tried his best to repress the blush forming, turning away from Remus in an attempt to hide it. "I don't think that will be necessary." 

Remus shrugged. "Alright." She rushed over to the next stall, her eyes lighting up. "Can we get some of these?" 

Logan frowned, coming up besides her. He was glad for the change in conversation, but it seemed that another annoyance was about to creep up. The stall was filled with weapons, swords and bows and knives and axes and several obscure designs, all with intricate decorations and razor sharp edges. He sighed. 

"Remus, we don't need any weapons," he said. 

"Of course we do!" Remus exclaimed. "We're fighting things daily, why wouldn't we need weapons?" 

"We _have magic_ ," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper so as to not cause a scene to the Therbans around them. 

Remus stared at the table, her eyes landing on a weapon at the back. "Is that a fucking _mace_?" 

"Remus, you don't need a mace." 

"I'm buying the mace." 

"That really isn't an essential supply-" 

"It _will_ be essential when we go fight that Dragon Witch." She reached into her pocket, producing a small bag of coins. "How much for the mace?" 

"Fifty gold pieces," the vendor said. 

Remus grinned. "Perfect." She handed the bag of money over. 

Logan glanced at her. "Did you just spend all your savings on a mace?" 

"I mean, _technically_ it's my father's money so, like, it's fine." Once the vendor was finished counting her money, he handed the mace over. Remus stood back a little, finding an area clear of other people, and swung the mace back and forth a few times, almost vibrating with excitement. 

Logan smiled fondly as he watched, before quickly wiping the smile away. "You're an idiot, y'know." 

"I know I'm an idiot," Remus replied, lowering her arm and letting the mace swing at her side. " _But_ now I'm an idiot with a mace." 

"That isn't something to be proud of." He continued to walk through the market, stopping at another food stall to buy some bread. 

"Why can't you be proud of me." 

"I am proud of you," Logan said, picking out a couple loaves and handing some money to the vendor. "You don't need to wield a mace for me to be proud of you." 

" _But_ owning a mace does make me a million times sexier, right?" 

Logan rolled his eyes, allowing a small smile to creep out. "Yes, Remus. Of course it does."


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: talk of religion

As the sun rose over the fields of Therba, the group set off down the main road, bracing themselves for the long walk to Ignebris. Patton had offered several more times to heal Declan's cut on their shoulder, but they still refused their help. After yet another rejection, Patton fell back into the group, walking besides Virgil. 

"You doing good?" they asked, to which they received a sigh from Virgil. 

"I mean, I guess I'm okay," he said. "Not particularly thrilled about being back in Therba." 

Patton nodded. "Yeah, I get that." They hummed. "I mean, not exactly - I'd love to go back to Lanamia. But... I get _why_ you feel like that." 

Virgil chuckled. "It's alright, Pat. I'm not really expecting you to understand." He reached up to his neck, running his fingers over his necklace. "What village are we stopping by?" 

"Duville," they said. 

Virgil cursed under his breath. 

Patton raised an eyebrow. "Are you-" 

"It's alright," Virgil interrupted. "I'm fine." 

"If you want to talk about-" 

"Really, it's cool."

Patton assumed that it was absolutely not cool, but decided not to dig any further. Virgil didn't seem willing to talk, anyway, and Patton didn't want to cross the line. 

So, instead, they just continued to walk, in a peaceful silence. Therba wasn't actually that bad of a place - sure, the people weren't great, but it was nice to just walk through. The air was clean and everything was so green and beautiful, and the sunrise over the rolling hills was perfect. They saw Therbans walking down the road, moving between farms and villages, and they all looked... happy. They were just going about their lives as normal, living like people should, no tension amongst any of them at all. 

It didn't seem right. Patton thought that Therba would be in a much worse position right now, being right next to Ignebris. But they were all just fine. They hadn't even seen any monsters around, asides from a few Crollox's. Everything was alright here. 

Although, it did make a bit of sense. Therba never really involved itself in the wars, in the world of magic in general. The war was between Silvales and Ignebris, both of which Therba wasn't particularly good allies with - Silvales because of their love of magic, and Ignebris because of the whole evil thing they had going on. Therba wasn't particularly well defended anyway - their armies were a thing of the past. 

It was sad, almost, that Therba wouldn't return to their glory days. People here used to respect magic, used to love it. Patton had been told stories about Therba as a child, about the kings and queens and knights and legends, about the old gods and the old magic. They could see it all over Therba, as well, in the ancient ruins of castles long since destroyed, of training grounds for magic users long since abandoned. 

People here weren't born with magic any more, not like they used to be. Of course, everyone could use a little bit of magic, if they knew how to harness it from the air around them, but there was hardly any magic in Therba at all. These people hadn't been _taught_ , either. Not like the rest of the continent were. Magic faded out of Therba when the old gods died, when new faith came and forced the magic out. It was sad to think about. Patton wished that they could change the way that Therba was, but that was impossible. They didn't want to change. 

Although, the whole thing begged the question of just how Virgil managed to get his powers. It was believed that in ancient Therba, people got their powers from the gods, but that seemed unlikely now. The gods had moved on from Therba, Patton was sure. Maybe the gods had moved on from this plane of existence in general. 

"Hey, Virge," Patton said, "could you tell us about those gods now?" 

Logan's head turned. "Are we doing the gods talk now?" 

Virgil shrugged. "I guess, if y'all want me to." 

Logan's eyes lit up. He slowed down a little to walk besides Virgil, eagerly awaiting the stories. 

"Just a disclaimer, though, these are all old stories, and I don't know how much is true," Virgil said. "I also don't remember all the details, so... sorry in advance if I butcher these stories." 

"That's alright, Virgil," Patton said with a smile. "Just do your best." 

"Alright." Virgil put his hands in his pockets. "Well, it's said that the world was first created by the earth god-" 

"Aria?" Logan said. 

"Well, we called him Erie," Virgil said. 

"Interesting." Logan hummed. "Are they not the same god?" 

Virgil shrugged. "I think the two are pretty much the same," he said, "from what I've heard about Aria, at least. Erie was the eldest of all the gods, and created the world before giving various roles to the others, to which they helped him perfect it." 

Logan nodded. "Yes, that's similar to Aria's story. Although we're told that they created all the gods as well." 

"It's up to interpretation, I think." Virgil glanced down. "Some people say that he created the gods, some say they were his siblings. All the original documents we have were destroyed when the new Church took over, so we don't really know." 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "You had documents?" 

"You didn't?" 

"Well," Logan said, "we've always talked about the gods. They're very much alive in Nochae, and the stories are told to us from a very young age. We didn’t exactly have a need to write it down." 

"Ah. Our ancestors did anyway." Virgil smiled, looking up at the sky. "Some of the pages remain, I think. Maybe not all in Therba, but they're out there somewhere. There was a guy from my village who said he had one, but... well, he disappeared one day. Never heard from again." 

Patton couldn't help but feel mildly concerned at that. Why did the guy disappear? They imagined it had something to do with the page, but... 

Whatever. It wasn't particularly important to the stories. 

"Anyway," Virgil continued, "there was the main five after that who helped Erie build the world - Saka, goddess of the sky, Fren, god of the forest, Lili, goddess of life, Luther, god of light, and Dratino, goddess of dark. Of course, there were many other minor gods that popped up as well, far too many to count, but those were the main ones." 

"It's mostly the same in Nochae," Logan mentioned. "Although, we have a sixth god - Saraco, god of the stars. They're the most important over there. The source of my power, actually." 

Virgil blinked. "Really?" 

"Yes," Logan confirmed. "They're the source of most magic in Nochae. Of course, some people are connected to the other gods, quite a few are connected to the minor god Stelk, of snow, but it's mostly to Saraco." 

Virgil hummed. "It's similar here, I think. Or used to be. Those with magic would be gifted it by the gods, and in turn they'd worship the gods to gain more power." 

"That's exactly how Nochae works," Logan informed him. 

Patton was feeling very lost in this conversation about gods, as that wasn't exactly a big thing back in Lanamia, but they continued to listen with intrigue nonetheless. 

"I think that's what happened back in Finsby Woods," Virgil said. "There must have been a minor god tied to the pond, maybe he was awakened when Remus got near." 

Logan's eyes widened. "Of course! The god must have gifted them more power!" 

Virgil hummed. "I wonder if that's what happened with me. If I'm tied to one of the old gods, and _that's_ why I'm like this..." 

"Oh!" Patton exclaimed, hit with a sudden realization. "Maybe you're tied to that..." They clicked their fingers, trying to remember what Virgil had said. "The dark fellow... uh... Dra-something..." 

"Dratino?" Virgil said. 

"That's it!" Patton grinned. "Your powers are, like, all shadowy and dark stuff, right?" 

"I guess so." He raised his hands and summoned a small ball of black smoke, before closing it again. "I've never thought about that. But the old gods are all dormant, now. I don't know _how_ I'd be born with this." 

Logan hummed. "It is possible that the gods aren't as dormant as they seem. Perhaps there's a source close to where you lived." 

"Maybe..." 

"Have you ever tried praying to the old gods?" Logan inquired. 

Virgil shook his head. "Again, not really religious." 

"Ah." Logan tapped his leg. "I suppose I cannot make you, but if you ever change your mind, I can assure you that it can be very... exhilarating. Especially when your powers are linked to a certain god, which yours may or may not be." 

Virgil smiled. "Yeah, sure." He sighed. "I might look into it. It _could_ explain why I'm the way that I am. And, y'know, part of me wants to know, I guess..." 

"I'd be more than willing to help," Logan offered. "I spend a lot of time researching in the school library, perhaps when this is all over we can have a look." 

"Yeah!" Patton exclaimed. "I don't really know what's going on, but I'll join as well! For moral support!" 

"Thank you, Patton," Virgil said. "And you too, Logan. I... I think that would be good." 

They walked in silence for a few moments longer. Patton looked up at the sky, noticing the sun slowly moving upwards. They must have been walking for an hour or so now, and more and more people were flooding out into the wild, tending the fields or visiting friends. 

"Virgil, may I ask where abouts in Therba you come from?" Logan said, startling both Virgil and Patton. Part of Patton wanted to jump in and tell Logan that that really wasn't any of his business, but they kept quiet, thinking that they should probably let Virgil handle this himself. 

"Duville," he said. 

Oh. _That_ was why Virgil had acted weirdly earlier. They were heading to his _hometown_ \- of course he wasn't feeling great about it! From what Patton had heard, it sounded like Virgil had had a really rough time growing up, so they imagined that returning there would bring up some pretty bad memories. They felt a twinge of sympathy for Virgil, wanting to wrap him up and carry him back to the Academy so he didn't have to deal with this whole thing. 

"Oh, that's helpful, we'll be visiting that village in a couple days time," Logan said. "Perhaps we can look a little into-" 

"I don't want to spend much time in Duville," he said, simply. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "But we could learn so much. We may be able to actually search for a source-" 

"I can't be spending loads of time there," Virgil insisted. "Everyone there knows me, and..." He trailed off. 

Perhaps he didn't want to admit to Logan what had gone on back home, and that was okay, Patton understood that. They weren't about to go telling anyone else, either, especially when Virgil clearly wanted to keep it to himself. He'd told Patton, sure, but Patton imagined that they hadn't been told the full story either. They allowed him to tell Logan what he was comfortable with. 

"They're afraid of me, there," Virgil said, his voice deepening a little. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "People there don't like me. Not... Not even my family. Staying there too long is a bad idea." 

Logan didn't seem to quite know how to react. "Your family-" 

"It's fine," Virgil said, "we don't need to talk about it any more. Just know that I'm kinda... well, sticking around wouldn't be good. That's why I went to the Academy in the first place." 

Logan blinked. "It... is?"

"My family sent me there as soon as they could," he explained. "Basically kicked me out, I guess. Mum wrote to me for a while, but... well, it stopped eventually. We haven't spoken since, and I feel like my family wouldn't be all too pleased with me showing up home with my powers only stronger than before." 

Patton desperately wanted to offer for Virgil to come and live with their family, but they held back, instead just saying, "We'll keep you safe, Virge. Don't worry." 

"Yes," Logan agreed. "I'd imagine we'll just be staying the night in Duville, and we'll leave as soon as possible." 

Virgil smiled. "Thanks, guys."


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: needles

Roman watched the campfire crackle, releasing hundreds of glowing embers into the night sky. The group had set up camp in a field, just off the side of the main road. As far as they were aware, it wasn’t a field owned by any of the farms in the area - it was just filled with grass, no crops at all, so they assumed it was free ground. 

For a while, the six of them had just been sitting around the fire whilst Patton cooked dinner, but eventually they broke off, Logan and Remus going to set up the tents (well, Logan setting them up and Remus watching), Patton and Virgil staying by the fire, and Declan wandering further into the field, sitting down in the grass and looking up at the sky. Roman followed them, sitting besides them. 

Whilst they didn’t say anything straight away, they didn’t seem to protest either, so Roman stayed, watching the stars with them. It was a clear night, but there was a light breeze, and Roman noticed Declan shivering. Part of him wanted to wrap his arm around Declan and pull them closer to keep them warm, but he held back, unsure of what they may think. A couple days ago he would have immediately done it, but things had been weird lately, and he didn’t want to upset Declan more than he already had. 

He felt _terrible_ about what he had done the day before, when they were sparing. Obviously he hadn’t meant to cut Declan, that was the _last_ thing he wanted. He had been _expecting_ Declan to block the attack, like they always did. But they hadn’t. Maybe Roman had gone too hard, maybe he should have held back even more than usual. So much had happened to Declan recently, so maybe they just weren’t feeling great, maybe they were feeling distracted. 

Glancing at them, Roman realised that the makeshift bandage was beginning to come undone, and blood was beginning to drip down their arm again. That meant that it wasn’t healing. Roman wondered why Declan hadn’t just let Patton heal the wound, like they usually would, but... he supposed that it was Declan’s decision, and Roman couldn’t change that. He just wished that Declan would accept help, for once. 

“Hey, do you want me to bandage that up properly?” Roman asked, breaking the silence. 

Declan’s head shot over, apparently just now realising that Roman was there. “Yeah, sure, whatever.” 

Roman smiled gently, before standing up and returning to the camp. He grabbed the first aid kit without explanation, then walked back to Declan, kneeling down besides them. 

“If this hurts at any point, tell me, alright?” 

“Sure.” Declan didn’t seem to be in the mood for conversation, and Roman didn’t really blame them. 

Roman slowly began to take off the bit of fabric currently acting as a bandage - not a particularly good one, but it had held back the blood for as long as it could. He placed it on the ground besides him, trying not to notice how it was soaked in blood. He then stared at the wound for a while, his guilt only growing. 

“It’s not gonna magically heal itself by you staring at it,” Declan grumbled. That was probably the longest sentence that they’d spoken that day. 

“Sorry.” Roman hummed. “Do you think we should put some stitches in it?” 

Declan frowned. 

“I mean, since you obviously don’t want Patton to do anything, some stitches may help it heal up on it’s own,” Roman said. “I mean, you’d still have a scar, but...” 

“That’s fine,” Declan said. “Do what you need to do.” 

Roman smiled, and opened the first aid kit, taking out the string and needle. He stared at them for a second, wondering how this was supposed to work. 

“Have you ever done this before?” Declan asked. 

“Nope.” 

“Maybe we should get someone else.” 

“Nah, I can figure it out.” 

He jabbed the needle into Declan’s arm, causing Declan to grimace, his scales flickering red then purple then back to green. 

“Shit, did that hurt?” Roman asked, concerned. 

Declan rolled their eyes. “Of course it fucking hurt, just get it over with!” 

“Okay, okay!” 

Roman continued to stitch up the wound, thinking back to how he used to sow things with his mother - this was basically the same thing, right? Only difference between this and sowing is that sowing was done with pieces of fabric, and this was done on a real human person who could feel pain and may die from blood loss if Roman didn’t finish this. 

They weren’t going to die from blood loss, Roman knew that. They _may_ die if Roman somehow managed to majorly fuck up - which actually had a high possibility of happening, he had no idea what he was doing - but he tried to stay optimistic. 

Eventually, the wound had been stitched up, and Roman cut the thread, leaning back to admire his handiwork. It wasn’t particularly neat or straight, but neither were they so that was fine. Besides, if it kept Declan from dying, everything would be fine. 

“Is it done?” Declan asked. 

“Yup.” 

“Thank the gods.” 

Roman returned to the first aid kit and produced a bandage, wrapping up Declan’s arm again. He tried to ignore them flinching as he tied it a little too tight, but once it was done Declan relaxed. Roman repositioned himself, looking back up at the stars. 

“Thank you,” Declan said, quietly. 

“Don’t thank me,” Roman said, “I’m the one who gave you the cut in the first place.” 

“That wasn’t your fault.” Declan sighed. His scales slowly shifted to a dark blue. “I was distracted. If all the stuff back in Denemuis hadn’t have happened, I would’ve been able to block it.” 

“Then... it’s not your fault either.” 

Declan shook his head. “Never said it was. But I shouldn’t have been distracted. I have more important things to be thinking about than my past.” 

Roman subconsciously wrapped his arm around Declan, and Declan didn’t protest. They just melted into his chest, and after a few moments they stopped shivering. 

“I know a lot of bad things happened when I was a kid,” they began, “and... and I know there’s a lot of stuff I still need to work through. But I shouldn’t be thinking about any of that right now. I was doing _so well_ , I thought all that was behind me, but...” 

Roman hugged them tighter. “It’s okay, Declan. You’re _allowed_ to feel upset about what happened. You won’t just magically get over it.” 

“I _need_ to, though.” Declan glanced up at Roman, as Roman looked down into their glistening eyes, looking as if they could cry at any moment. “It’s affecting my work. I can’t protect you if I can’t fight without getting distracted.” 

“You don’t need to protect me, Declan.” 

“I do, Roman, and you cannot argue otherwise. It is literally my job to protect you. We’ve had this conversation.” They glanced down to the floor, and took in several deep breaths to compose themself. “Maybe I just need to practise more.” 

Roman hummed. “Are you asking to spar again?” 

“No, not right now,” Declan said. They had a good point - them two fighting wouldn’t be a good idea, especially after what happened last time. Roman didn’t want to hurt them again. “Maybe I need to go hunting. There _must_ be some monsters around here, right?” 

Roman hummed. “Not in Therba. Not enough magic.” 

Declan groaned. “Of all places, why do we have to be stuck in Therba?” 

“We’ll be out of here soon,” Roman said. “There’ll be plenty of monsters to fight in Ignebris.” 

Declan smiled. “Yeah.” 

They closed their eyes, sinking deeper into Roman’s body. Roman stayed quiet as Declan’s breathing grew shallow. He felt their grip on him loosen, and after a moment he realised they had fallen asleep, scales returning to a light green. Smiling fondly, Roman scooped them up in his arms and carried them back to camp, shushing the rest of the group as he took Declan into their tent. After tucking Declan into bed, Roman reemerged, going to sit by the fire again. 

“Are they okay?” Patton asked, handing Roman a portion of dinner - apparently he had missed it whilst talking to Declan. 

Roman nodded. “They’re fine. Just fell asleep.” 

“They missed dinner,” Virgil mentioned. 

“Yeah, I figured.” He began to eat his own dinner. “Don’t worry, I’ll get them up early for some breakfast,” he promised. 

Patton nodded. “Okay, good idea.” 

“So, did I miss anything?” Roman asked, desperately hoping for a good conversation to distract him. 

Patton went on to tell him a story of how they had found some super rare bug in the campsite and chased it around trying to catch it, and Roman half listened. Occasionally, Logan would interrupt with some fact about the bug, which Roman mostly ignored. Once that story was finished, Patton continued to speak about other things, stories from Lanamia and the like, and Roman continued to half listen. One by one, the group began to break off and go to sleep, until eventually Patton retreated, leaving Roman alone by the fire. 

For a while longer, he stared at the flame, watching it dance around the darkness. The space around him was quiet, peaceful, and he wasn’t a massive fan of that but he was at least glad that he had some space to himself. By now, everyone else was fast asleep. He began to hum a song, an old lullaby that his mother used to sing. Eventually, he started to mutter the lyrics as well. 

“ _When red spreads to the leaves,  
_ _Then blown by autumn breeze,  
_ _They sit by the fire and sing._ ” 

He summoned a small flame in his hand, for a little bit of extra warmth. 

“ _When winter comes along,  
_ _And they still sing their song,  
_ _They feel they could do anything._ ” 

He put the fire in his hand out and pulled the flame from the campfire towards him, the warmth spreading throughout his body. 

“ _When flowers rule the land,  
_ _It’s spring forming it’s band,  
_ _They sit by the fire and sing._ ” 

He felt a hand land on his shoulder and froze, but continued the final verse anyway. 

“ _Now summertime is here,  
_ _The best time of the year,  
_ _They feel they could do anything._ ” 

Roman turned his head, noticing that Declan had emerged from their tent. They smiled at him. “Haven’t heard you sing for a while.” 

Roman blushed. “I, uh-“ 

“It’s alright,” Declan said. “It was beautiful.” 

They two stood up and moved back to their tent, getting into bed besides one another. “My mother used to sing that to me,” Roman said. “When I couldn’t sleep. Although she used to sing it in Ancient Silvalan.” 

Declan raised an eyebrow. “You _did_ sing it in Ancient Silvalan.” 

Roman blinked. “I did?” 

“Well, I didn’t recognise the words,” Declan admitted, “so I’d assume so.” 

“Ah.” Roman hummed. “That makes sense, I guess.” 

“What’s the song about?” Declan asked. 

“Time passing, seasons changing,” Roman said. “I don’t know, it’s an old lullaby. Never thought much about the lyrics.” 

Declan was quiet for a moment. “Can you sing it again?” 

Roman was a little shocked by that. “Uh, sure.” He began to sing, softer than before, quieter, and watched as Declan closed their eyes, drifting back off to sleep. They reached over to Roman’s hand, and Roman took theirs, squeezing it gently as he reached the final lyrics. By the time he was finished, Declan had fallen asleep again. 

Soon after, Roman had fallen asleep too, listening to Declan’s soft breathing. Things between them were okay, Roman thought. Things were going to be okay.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: bad family relations, panic attack (sort of?)

It took a couple more days of walking and a couple more peaceful nights camping under the starry skies before the group reached Duville, and Virgil realised that avoiding his past was near impossible. Like promised, they immediately made their way to the inn, as they arrived in the village just as the sun had begun to set. 

Whilst the other five stayed in the bar to chat and eat, Virgil made his way straight up to his room, lying down on a hard, uncomfortable bed and staring up at the ceiling. He slipped his jacket off and made it into a sort of pillow to rest his head, as he tried to sort through his thoughts. He knew that _eventually_ he'd end up back in Duville, it was almost impossible for him not to. Once he eventually got too old for the Academy, he'd have to move back here, probably living out the rest of his life as a farmer like his parents, and his grandparents, and his ancestors before them. He just hadn't expected to return so soon. 

After lying on the bed for what felt like hours, Virgil got up and moved over to the window, staring out at the street where he had spent most of his childhood. He remembered how he used to run around with his brothers and sisters, playing tag or racing each other, how they used to have so much fun. 

He also remembered how one by one his siblings drifted away. How the other townsfolk would glare at him in disgust, in anger, and how that seemed to rub off on his family. How his father began to shut him out as well, and how his siblings followed suit, eventually leaving Virgil with no one but his mother. 

And she'd drifted away, too. She supported Virgil to begin with, stuck up for him, tried to let him lead a normal childhood. She was the one who thought to send him away to the Academy - Virgil had always assumed it was because she could no longer stand the sight of him, that his family only wanted him gone, but now he thought that maybe she did it to protect him. If his father had been left with the decision of what to do with him, he probably wouldn't be standing here today. 

He wanted to see his mother, so desperately. He knew it would be a _terrible_ idea, because seeing his mother meant seeing the rest of his family, and he definitely didn't want that. 

As he turned away from the window and began to return to his bed, he noticed that his cloud had grown. Grown so much. The darkness had almost covered the entire floor of the room, and was slowly beginning to rise. Panicked, Virgil went to sit down crosslegged on his bed and began to breath, in and out, trying to clear his head. The fog in his mind only worsened though, and the cloud of darkness spread up, encapsulating Virgil's body. 

He closed his eyes. Breathing was becoming more difficult by the second. He felt the shadow seep into his open mouth, feeling the smoke brush down his throat, and he felt like he was choking. Overwhelmed. 

_No_. He had to concentrate, had to use his powers. He had tried this so many times, tried to control the shadow - why had he still failed to do it? Why was it that his powers seemed to be slowly killing him, when they _should_ be helping him? Why couldn't he do this one thing, for once in his life? 

He heard a knock on the door and the cloud dissipated, now settling at his legs. He gasped, trying to replace the smoke with clean air, as another person stepped into the room - Patton. They rushed over to Virgil's side, sitting on the bed. 

"Are you alright?" they asked, sounding weird. "You look pale-" 

Virgil tried to speak, but couldn't. 

"Virgil-" 

He held a hand up to his throat, trying to send Patton a silent message that _something_ had gone wrong, _horribly_ wrong. Patton didn't seem to get the message. Virgil glanced around the room frantically, trying to find a way to communicate with Patton, but found nothing. 

Patton placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder. His eyes widened in shock, and Patton drew away. _No-_ That had helped, Virgil thought. For a moment, it felt like the smoke was gone. He grabbed Patton's hand, placing it back on his shoulder. 

But nothing happened. _Fuck_. 

"Are you hurt?" Patton asked, tears beginning to form in their eyes. 

Virgil nodded. 

Patton closed their eyes. Flowers began to sprout on Virgil's shoulders, but still nothing happened. They opened their eyes again. 

"Did that-" 

He shook his head, letting go of Patton's hand. He then pointed to his throat again, cringing as it began to burn from the inside out. Not literally, he hoped, but the pain only intensified. 

Seeming to get the idea, Patton moved his hand over to Virgil's neck, and flowers sprouted there. The pain faded a bit, but the burning feeling didn't end. And he still couldn't speak. 

Patton hummed. "Is it on the inside?" 

Virgil nodded, slowly as his head began to ache as well. 

They drew their hand away and opened their palms, a small flower blooming in the middle. "Eat this," Patton instructed. 

Virgil grabbed the flower, trying to keep it as far away from his cloud as possible in an attempt to not let the two magics mix again, and threw it into his mouth, swallowing before he had a chance to chew. He felt it slide down his throat, the burning feeling slowly fading, until the flower disappeared and Virgil could breathe again. He took several deep breaths, trying to recompose himself, before smiling at Patton. 

"Thanks," he said, his voice hoarse. 

Patton immediately hugged him, tears finally escaping and sliding down their face, landing on Virgil's neck. "Don't scare me like that again."

Virgil pulled away, and Patton let him. "Sorry. Magic got a bit too much." 

Patton frowned. "What... What actually happened?" 

Virgil shrugged. "My cloud got inside me, I think. Messed up my insides. Got... overwhelmed, with things." 

Patton didn't seem to know what to say. "Are you-" 

"I'm fine, now," Virgil said, not entirely sure if he was lying. "Just... I don't know." 

"Has that happened before?" Patton asked. 

Virgil shook his head. "No. Not that bad, at least. It's never... It's never actually _got_ inside me before. I was just thinking too much, I think." 

Patton blinked. "Do you want to talk about it?" 

Virgil shook his head again. "Nah. Just... need some fresh air, I think. Might go for a walk." He stood up, slipping his jacket back on. 

"Want me to come with?" Patton offered. 

"No, it's fine, you get some rest," Virgil said, smiling. "I won't be long, don't worry about me." 

"Alright. If you say so." 

Virgil saluted Patton to say goodbye, then left the room, wandering downstairs into the bar area. He tried his best to avoid the gaze of the rest of the group, sat around one table. Thankfully, he managed to make his way to the exit of the inn before they noticed him, and stepped out into the cold night air, feeling free. 

As he began to walk down the street, through the village, he lifted up his hood, stuffed his hands into his pockets, and bowed his head, trying to appear as small and unnoticeable as possible. Hopefully none of the few villagers still out and about would notice him, or recognise him. He hid his mother's necklace, just in case. 

Whilst he wasn't really thinking about where he was walking to, he found himself subconsciously heading back to his farm, situated just outside of the village. He stayed towards the back of the field, hiding behind a tree as he spied on his old house. The lights were on in what used to be his bedroom - his siblings must have been in there, probably playing before they had to go to sleep. He had a few younger ones who would still be at the age to play now, ones that definitely wouldn't recognise him if they saw him. He wondered if the rest of his family would even recognise him - he'd been gone so long, and had changed so much since they last saw him. 

He turned around, planning to head back towards the inn, or at least away from his old home, but jumped back in shock as he saw a girl standing there. She wore a long, white dress, with sandals on her feet, and her midnight black hair wand let down, flowing in the breeze. She smiled at him. 

"Virgil?" she said. 

Virgil blinked. "Uh, I don't-" 

"It's me," she said, "Isabel." 

His eyes widened. " _Isabel_?" Jeez, she had _grown_ so much since Virgil had last seen her. She had been... what, eight? Yeah, eight, when Virgil had moved away, and now... She was taller than him, somehow, and her face had moulded into someone much more mature, older and wiser. 

Isabel had never particularly been bad to Virgil. She'd mostly stayed away from him, probably at their father’s request, but she'd never once given Virgil the impression that she didn't like him. And she wasn't giving him the impression that she was angry now. 

"You've... gotten taller," he said, not really sure how to react to the whole situation. 

Isabel smirked. "You haven't."

He frowned. "I have-" 

"I'm joking." She giggled a little. "But, uh, I am a little surprised to see you." 

Virgil glanced down. "Yeah, uh, you actually weren't supposed to see me. I was trying to stay hidden." 

"You were doing a pretty bad job of it." 

He sighed. "I'm _trying_ , okay? Uh, maybe don't tell everyone else I'm here, though-" 

She frowned. "Is something wrong?" 

"What? No." He hummed. "I'm just passing through the village. Figured that y'all probably wouldn't want to see me anyway." 

"Why wouldn't we want to see you?" she asked. "You're our brother." 

"Well, yeah, but-" 

"I know Father was never particularly keen of you, but-" 

"And _that_ is exactly why I can't have anyone else knowing that I'm here," he said. 

She stared at him for a moment. "Why _are_ you here?" 

"I told you, I'm just passing through," he said. 

"Toby always said that you died," she said. Her eyes widened. "Wait, am I talking to a ghost?" 

"No, no, I'm very much alive," he promised her. "I'm on a mission. For the Academy. Didn't know that I'd have to come through the village on said mission, but, y'know..." He sighed. "I'm staying at the inn, leaving first thing in the morning." 

She pouted. "Hey, no, we should catch up! It's been _ages_ , and you stopped sending us letters!" 

Virgil blinked. "It was only Mother who sent letters to _me_." 

"Yeah, but we _all_ read them!" 

"You... did?" 

She hummed. "Well, not all of us, but most of us at least. I used to love reading your letters." 

"I stopped when Mother stopped sending them," he said. "Didn't see the point if she couldn't be bothered to send anything back. Figured she'd given up her act or whatever." 

Isabel's face fell. "Did you not..." 

Virgil frowned. "Did I not what? Did something happen?" 

She fell silent, the light in her eyes beginning to fade. "You... You should come in." 

Virgil shook his head. "No, I can't, Father'll kill me." 

"We can disguise you," Isabel suggested. "I can convince Father to let you stay a while. Or we can hide you in our room, Father never comes inside. We just... I think we need to talk." 

Moments after, Virgil found himself climbing up the house and through his old bedroom window, his younger siblings staring up at him in shock. Isabel followed, landing in the room. 

"This is my boyfriend," she whispered, "but we can't let Father know he's here, okay?" 

Their younger siblings all nodded and continued playing their games, whilst Isabel made her way to her closet, handing Virgil a change of clothes. "Wear these," she said. "They were my ex-boyfriends. You look close enough to him that Father should get mixed up.” 

Virgil looked in distaste at the clothes she had handed him, but went to get changed nonetheless. "Did you really have to pretend that I'm your boyfriend?" 

"Yeah, I've snuck my boyfriends in here enough times that it won't faze the little ones." 

He frowned. "I'm your brother though." 

"I'm not _actually_ asking you to be my boyfriend." 

"And I'm gay," he said. "You do know I'm gay, right?" 

She glanced at him. "I didn't, actually. But that doesn't really surprise me, actually.” 

He closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. "Alright. Now, what did you want to say?" 

She froze, sadness beginning to fill her face. “We, uh, we should sleep first,” she said. “I’ll tell you in the morning.”


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: alcohol mention, slight nsfw allusions (remus being remus, nothing explicit)

Roman belted out a tune, an old song that he'd learnt back in Silvales, to some men who had taken the bar as their own. It was nearing midnight, he was pretty sure, but the group had yet to have gone to bed. Some other townsfolk had begun dancing to Roman's songs, one hopping in to accompany him on the flute and another on the guitar. 

As his song came to an end, the men around him stood up in applause. They were all drunk, Roman assumed - if not, they probably wouldn't have enjoyed Roman's singing that much. This town didn't particularly seem like a place where people had _fun_. It was a wonder they hadn’t already fought him on account of being a satyr. 

Before he had time to start another song, Roman was dragged down by Declan, who brought him back to their table in the corner. Despite still protesting, Roman let Declan drag him, feeling too happy to really fight back. Declan rolled their eyes. 

"Roman, you know we're supposed to be keeping a low profile," they said, sitting him down at the table. The others stared at him, Logan seeming vaguely disappointed in him and Remus seeming more disappointed that he'd stopped singing. Patton and Virgil weren't there - actually, Roman hadn't seen either of them for a good few hours. 

"Dec, do you really have to ruin everyone's fun?" Remus said, leaning back and twisting his finger through his hair. 

Declan sighed. "We really should all be getting to bed." 

"But we're having such a good time!" 

" _Roman's_ having a good time," Declan corrected. "We're sat here watching him." 

Logan frowned. "Do you not enjoy watching Roman?" 

Declan spluttered. "I don't- I mean- I- Of course I do, but not in this context. We need to get to bed and stop drawing attention to ourselves." 

"There's really no problem with drawing attention to ourselves," Logan said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I believe we should be able to stay up and enjoy the night, since we likely won't have time for another such as this. We're heading straight for Ignebris in the morning, you know." 

"Yeah, that's why we should go to bed." 

"You can go to bed if you want to, Dec," Remus said, sprawling himself over the table. "I'm not leaving. Havin' too much fun watching those Therbans dance around." 

Declan sighed. "Yeah, another thing, we are _surrounded_ by Therbans. Y'know-" They lowered their voice to a whisper. "-the ones we're trying to avoid, to keep you-know-who safe." 

Roman pouted. "The Therbans love us. They're literally calling me right now to come back and carry on singing." 

Declan closed their eyes and breathed in. "Roman. The Therbans _hate_ people like us." 

"Not when they're drunk, apparently," Roman muttered. 

"Declan," Logan interrupted, "we can't go up just yet, alright? We're still waiting on Patton's status update on you-know-who." 

"They've been gone for _hours_ ," Declan said. "They probably went to sleep. There's no _point_ in waiting any longer." 

"They said they'd come back downstairs," Logan said. "If you don't want to wait, then fine, go upstairs, but if they and you-know-who are doing something in private and you walk in, then that's your own fault." 

Remus frowned. "I don't think that Patton would fuck Virgil." The three glared at him, in shock. He held up his hands in defence. "What?" 

"That is not what I was referring to," Logan said. 

Remus' eyes darted about. "Uh, I don't really know what else that would mean." 

Logan sighed. "I _mean_ , something may have happened to Virgil, and Patton may be helping him through it." 

"Oh." Remus shrugged. "Well. Continue." 

Declan grabbed Roman's arm. "C'mon, Roman, we're going upstairs." 

"Hey, why me?" 

" _Because_ I'm not leaving you down here by yourself." 

"I'm with Logan and Remus, though-" 

"You know that isn't what I meant." 

"Right, I'm not doing this." Roman pulled his hand back, to which Declan stared at him in annoyance. "Declan, my knight, actual love of my life, if you want to go up to bed, go ahead. You know I'll be up there soon to give you all cuddles and kisses that you want, okay?" 

For a moment, Declan continued to stare, his scales slowly turning red, rage beginning to bubble up inside them, until Patton appeared behind them. They waved, displaying a huge smile, and the aggressive look on Declan's face immediately faded, scales flicking pink before returning to the usual green, as they gave in and sat down next to Roman, melting into his body. 

"Patton," Logan said, "you're back." 

Patton blinked. They looked tired. "Yeah, uh, I was waiting for you to come upstairs." 

Roman frowned. "You were? But-" 

"I kinda assumed that you'd just come up since Virgil left and all, or that you'd come up when he returned-" 

"Wait," Logan interrupted. "Virgil _left_?" 

Patton blinked. "Yeah. Like, three, four hours ago. Did you not see him go?" 

“One job, Patton.” Logan breathed in. "You had _one_ job. You were _supposed_ to keep watch on him." 

"He needed some fresh air," Patton defended. "He said he was just going for a walk. Kinda assumed he'd be back by now, honestly." 

"Well, he clearly isn't," Logan said. 

Patton glanced down, worry beginning to settle on their face. "Should we go look for him?" 

The other four exchanged glances of concern, before coming to a silent agreement and facing Patton. 

"You go out with Logan," Declan said. "Roman and Remus can take one side of the village, you two take the other. I'll stay here in case he comes back." 

"You sure?" Logan asked. "I agree that splitting up is the best way to find Virgil, but you staying behind-" 

"I'll be fine," Declan said. "I can try to speak to the people round here, see if they've seen anything." 

Logan nodded. "Okay, good plan actually." He stood up. "Patton?" 

"Yup." They began to walk out, Logan following them. 

Roman stood up. "You comin', Remus?" 

Remus groaned. "Do I have too?" 

"Remus," Declan said, "get the fuck up and follow Roman." 

Remus immediately stood up. "Okay, okay." 

The two brothers began to exit the inn, glancing at Logan and Patton down at the end of the street and turning in the opposite direction. It was dark, the only light coming from the stars, so Roman raised his hand and summoned a small ball of fire to guide them. 

"Is that a good idea?" Remus asked. 

"Everyone's sleeping," Roman argued. "No one would care, anyway." 

"I mean, from what Virgil's said-" 

"Can we not think about that right now?" Roman requested. 

"Why not?" Remus said. "It's probably useful. I'd imagine that has something to do with why he's suddenly disappeared-" 

"Remus," Roman said, a little too loud. He noticed Remus flinching, but decided to ignore it. "I really don't want to think about it." 

"Just saying." Remus shrugged. "Virgil could have already been executed right now. They could have chopped his head off. Burnt him at the stake." 

"That is a brilliant example of what has definitely _not_ happened to Virgil." Roman sighed. "We just need to find him, okay? I'm sure he's... I'm sure he's fine." 

Remus withdrew, slumping his shoulders a little. "Alright. If you were Virgil, where would you go?" 

Roman tapped the side of his leg with his free hand. "Uh, I don't know. He wanted some fresh air, right? So he probably headed out of the village..." 

"Bingo!" Remus exclaimed. "Fields at the back. Massive farm. Perfect place for a meltdown." 

Roman nodded and began to head towards the back of the town, towards the farm a short walk away. As the two walked, they glanced around, looking for any sign of Virgil. A large farmhouse stood in the distance, a single bedroom light lit. 

Remus hummed. "Maybe he's in the farmhouse," he suggested. "Seems like a perfect place for a kidnapping." 

"Nah, too out in the open," Roman disagreed. He was mildly concerned about the fact that the word 'kidnapping' hadn't fazed him, but either way he built upon what Remus had said. "If I were to kidnap somebody, I'd lock 'em up somewhere harder to find. Like a cellar, or a-" 

"Barn," Remus said. 

"No, I was going to say a creepy cabin in the middle of the woods." 

"No, I mean, _barn_ ," Remus repeated, pointing towards the farmhouse. A barn sat a little to the left, the window displaying a light from the inside and a shadow of a person.

Roman grinned and made his way over, Remus trailing along. The two - well, mostly Roman - used their combined strength to open the door and step inside, to be greeted by two people, both of which were clearly not Virgil. They were older, for starters. One of them _almost_ looked like Virgil, with that dark hair and threatening eyes, but he was much older. The other was definitely not Virgil, as she had long, light brown hair down to her knees. The brothers seemed to have interrupted something a little... personal. 

Remus frowned. "You're not-" 

"Sorry," Roman quickly said, before his brother could give away Virgil's identity. "Wrong barn, we'll just be leaving." 

The boy frowned, moving away from the girl and approaching them. "Sorry, do I know you?" 

Roman shook his head. "Nope, never met in our life. And we're actually looking for our friend right now, so we really should be going-" 

"You do realise you're on private property right now?" the boy said. 

Roman gave him a strained smile. "Sorry, uh, we're from out of town. And we really should be going, so-" 

"Wait," the girl said, coming up to the boy's side. "Maybe we can help you. What's your friend's name?" 

"Charlotte," the boy said, through gritted teeth, "we shouldn't-" 

"Oh, c'mon, Tyler," the girl - Charlotte, Roman presumed - said. "It could be fun!" 

"They're _satyrs_ ," he said, as if the twins couldn't hear him. "If my father catches us-" 

"He won't catch us," Charlotte said. "He's never caught us before, has he?" 

"Oh, does your father own the farm?" Roman guessed. 

Tyler looked over at him. "That's none of your business." 

"Actually," Remus said, hopping into the conversation, "we have reason to believe our friend may be on the farm somewhere, so-" 

"On the farm?" Charlotte said, breaking away from Tyler and approaching Remus. "Interesting. And could you tell me your friend's name?" 

"His name's Virgil," Remus said, before Roman could stop him. In that moment, Roman was incredibly tempted to reach over and strangle his brother, but he didn't, not wanting to cause a scene or end up with a dead brother. 

Tyler's eyes widened. "Virgil?" 

"Yeah, Virgil," Remus conformed. "He went out to get some fresh air or something, and didn't come back, so our other friend, Patton, was kinda freaking out, I guess, and now we're looking for him apparently. I don't know, he has some bad memories about this place-" 

"Remus," Roman chided. "Would you stop talking for five minutes, please?" 

"I'm _trying_ to get help for us to find Virgil!" 

Tyler's fists tightened. "Did this _Virgil_ by any chance use to live in Therba?" 

Remus' eyes widened. "Oh! He did actually. In this village in fact-" 

Roman closed his eyes. It had gone too far. Remus had ruined it. Roman really wasn't surprised. 

"Why the _hell_ has Virgil come back?" Tyler said, aggression building up in his tone. 

"Oh, you know Virgil?" Remus asked. 

"He's my brother," Tyler snapped. 

"Oh, that's wonderful! You can- Oh." Remus glanced down. "Oh." He turned to Roman, lowering his voice to a stage whisper. "Ah, I can see why this may be a problem now." 

"Wait, which one's Virgil?" Charlotte asked, turning to Tyler. "You've never mentioned a Virgil before." 

"We sent him away," Tyler said. "He was too much trouble. Never thought he'd show his face here again." 

"And he hasn't!" Roman quickly said. "No, you must be thinking of a different Virgil, our Virgil is _not at all_ powerful and _definitely_ didn't have a brother called Tyler, so... Yeah, sorry, maybe we have the wrong village, uh-" 

They didn't seem to buy his lies. 

Remus turned to him. "Would now be a good time to leave?" 

Roman nodded. "Yeah, I think so." 

And the two turned around, running out of the barn and back through the fields, not stopping again until they reached the village and were sure that Tyler and Charlotte hadn't followed. They met back up with Patton and Logan outside the inn. 

"So?" Logan asked. "You find him?" 

Roman shook his head. "No." 

Logan seemed disappointed. 

"But we did find his brother!" Remus announced. "And, uh, his family probably knows he's here now. Which is fun."


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: bad family relations, minor character death (past)

It must have been five in the morning when Virgil woke up, the sun in his eyes and a girl leaning over him. Why would there be a girl leaning over him? And where _was_ he? 

Oh. This was his childhood bedroom. And the girl was his sister. 

"Virgil!" she said. "You're awake! C'mon!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of bed. "There's so much we need to do-" 

"Isabel," Virgil said, "calm down. I can't- I can't stay here, okay?" 

"Nonsense, of course you can!" Isabel grinned, running over to the window. Virgil slowly followed. "You gotta talk to the rest of us first. Lilia, Toby, Tyler-" 

"No, I'm not talking to Tyler," Virgil said, firmly. He remembered Tyler, his older brother. Remembered how Tyler was the first to turn against him. How Tyler was the first to turn to hatred. "That's a terrible idea. He'll kill me." 

" _No_ , he won't," Isabel disagreed, grabbing Virgil's arm again and dragging him out the room. "Toby will be in the garden now. He'll be delighted to see you." 

" _Isabel_ ," Virgil moaned, as she took him through the house. He glanced around, feeling a twinge of sadness that he'd left all this behind. He recognised some paintings on the wall, things that his older siblings and his mother had painted. Nothing that he'd painted - he imagined that they had all been burnt in a fire, or something like that. He noticed a few new paintings, as well. His family had just continued their life then, huh? 

"Don't worry," Isabel said, "Father's gone for the day. He went to the next village over, selling some crops I think." 

Virgil relaxed a little at that. That meant he wouldn't be caught. The rest of his family weren't _too_ bad - at least he hoped so, considering how Isabel had reacted to his appearance. 

The two left the house and went round the back, to the chicken pens where they found Toby, feeding the chickens. He looked up at them, face immediately twisting upon seeing Virgil, an expression that was somewhere between surprise, confusion, happiness, and anger. 

"Hey, Toby," Isabel said, "guess who?" 

Toby's eyes widened. "Is that-" 

"Virgil!" Isabel exclaimed. "He came back!" 

Virgil stood there in shock as Toby approached him, wrapping his arms around him. He felt his shoulder tense up, apparently scared that Toby would do something, or maybe just confused that this was happening in the first place. He never remembered Toby hugging him _before_ moving away to the Academy, so why now? He must have been planning something- 

No. Toby was... Was he _crying_? At the very least, he was shaking, and Virgil didn't quite understand what was going on. 

Toby drew away, but kept hold of Virgil's shoulders. He looked at him, his expression blank, then he punched Virgil in the arm, to which Virgil staggered back and glared at him, his shadow beginning to rise. 

"We thought you were _dead_ , Virgil," he said, sounding almost angry. 

Virgil closed his eyes. "Wow, thanks for the kind greeting." 

"Seriously," Toby said, "you stopped writing! We were all so worried-" He glanced down at the floor. "Oh. You're still doing that." 

Virgil looked down at his feet, noticing the cloud was a lot bigger than he thought. He tried to push it down a little, with enough success that the darkness settled as a small pool on the ground. 

"Yeah, uh, that's kinda why I went away in the first place, and why I haven't come back yet, I guess." 

He noticed that his siblings had backed away a little, and Toby's expression had been replaced by... fear. 

Virgil sighed. "Look, you don't have to be scared, alright? I'm not going to hurt you. I've been learning how to control it more, and how to use it, so there's really nothing to worry about." 

"I thought you went to learn how to get it to go away," Toby said, his voice quiet. 

Virgil rolled his eyes. "That isn't exactly how magic works, Toby. It's always going to be there. But it's not going to hurt anyone." 

Toby didn't seem so sure. "Why did you come back, if you haven't figured it all out yet?" 

"I didn't exactly _plan_ to come back," Virgil said. "I'm on a mission for the Academy. My friends and I were just passing through. Heading to Ignebris." 

Isabel's eyes widened. " _Ignebris_? Virgil, no, you can't-" 

"I don't have much choice in the matter," he interrupted. "I don't really want to be going either, but the Academy sent me, and apparently I'm stronger than I thought, and this is to help end the war, okay? I'm... This is important." 

Isabel glanced down, then back up at Virgil. "Are they making you use your magic?" 

Virgil groaned. "Yes, of fucking course they are, that's the whole reason I'm at the Academy." 

Toby stepped forward. "You went there to _stop_ it-"

Virgil back off, rubbing the back of his neck. "I thought you guys were cool with my magic?" 

Isabel breathed in. "We're... We're cool with you, Virgil. But magic-" 

"It's dangerous," Toby said. "We don't use magic here, you know that. It goes against everything that we stand for. You're Therban, Virgil. _Surely_ you understand that." 

"Wow." Virgil ran his fingers through his hair. "I... do not want to be having this conversation right now. I actually thought you guys were _different_." 

Isabel reached out a hand. "Virge, you know we love-" 

"No," Virgil said, stepping away from the two of them. "You're just like him, okay? And I don't want to be having this conversation. I don't want to be here. Just..." He sighed. "Can I talk to Mother? That's, like, the only thing I really wanted to do back here." 

Isabel and Toby exchanged a concerned glance, before Isabel looked at him. "Virgil..." 

~*~ 

Virgil fell at the base of a tree, trying to hold back his tears. This was his mother's grave. His mother was gone. Why the _fuck_ had nobody told him that his mother had fucking _died_? 

Isabel placed a hand on his shoulder. He shoved her hand off, and turned to face his siblings, his shadow rising to cover most of his body. They seemed to get the idea, and turned to leave. 

Virgil turned back to the tree. His mother's name had been carved into the bark, with a few quotes surrounding it. Virgil didn't read them, wanting no reminders of who his mother was. 

This explained why the letters had stopped. It was horrible that that was the only thing Virgil could think about, but it was true - if his mother was still alive, he'd still be receiving the letters. She didn't hate him, she hadn't been putting up an act. Those letters had been real, and they'd only stopped because they had to, because... because she was gone. 

His hand reached up to his necklace, fingers feeling over the charm, and he tore it off, ignoring the pain as the metal scraped against the back of his neck. He watched his shadow seep into the jewel, darkening it's colour. He didn't really deserve to wear the necklace. He had been hoping to give it back, as soon as he was able to return home, when his Academy days were over. But he couldn't now. His mother had worn it every single day before Virgil left, and now she'd never wear it again. 

He grasped it tight in his hand, as he began to dig a small hole with his other hand, in the dirt near the grave. Once there was a hole big enough, he placed the necklace inside, and buried it, allowing it to return to her. If there was an afterlife, maybe she was watching him now, seeing how he'd returned her pride and joy. He patted the ground, hard, trying to make it seem as if he hadn't dug, hadn't disturbed the peace. 

But at least the necklace was back where it belonged, with her. Maybe she was wearing it again now, as she stood behind him, watching, a smile on her face. He turned around, half-expecting her to be there, but she wasn't. Of course she wasn't. Ghosts weren't real and she was gone. She wasn't watching. 

Virgil stood up, wiping his now muddy hands on his trousers, and moved away from the grave, before he could start crying. He didn't want to think about this. So he walked through the forest, away from his mother and away from his old home. Everything that he'd wanted to return to was gone, now. He had no reason to be back home. He... He had nowhere to go after the Academy. 

What was even the point in this mission? Part of him had hoped that maybe afterwards people would start seeing him as normal, as good. Maybe the village would be less afraid of him, after he helped to end the war. Maybe his _family_ would be _proud_ of him, for once. But that wasn't going to happen anymore. He would be stuck at the Academy forever, probably. 

Moving to Lanamia was beginning to sound more and more appealing. Maybe he could move in with Patton. They probably wouldn't mind. He hadn't known them for long, but they were already better than any of his family had ever been. 

Out the corner of his eyes, he saw a blue glow. He wasn't sure how long he'd been walking for, but he didn't recognise this part of the woods. Of course, that may just be because he hadn't really explored the woods since he was ten, but... something didn't seem quite right. 

He could hear a voice singing, a sweet, melodic voice. He turned in the direction of the voice, walking towards it - and the blue glow. A woman was stood in front of him, with long, silky black hair, wearing a long purple dress, with bare feet just peeking out the bottom. For a moment, Virgil could swear that it was his mother, but... that couldn't be right. His mother was gone. And ghosts weren't real. 

...right? 

The women seemed to flicker in and out of existence, sometimes appearing almost translucent, sometimes turning into that bright blue glow, and sometimes looking solid, real. Virgil stepped towards her, reaching out a hand. 

She turned around and he backed away, feeling like this wasn't something he should be seeing. Her eyes glowed white, and her face was covered in black marks, swirls covering her cheeks and forehead. She reached out towards him, shadows growing at her feet. 

_Virgil_ , the voice, _her_ voice said. Her lips weren't moving, but Virgil could hear her perfectly. _I've been waiting._

Virgil stepped back again, every bone in his body screaming at him to run. She knew his name - how did she know his name? 

"Wh-Who are you?" he stuttered, his own shadow rising up to his waist. 

_Follow me_ , she whispered, turning around and gliding into the distance. Virgil glanced behind him, then back at her. She was moving slowly, waiting for him to catch up. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and followed. Something told Virgil that this was important, despite his fears circling his mind. 

Eventually, the woman stopped at a stone, with ancient writing carved over the surface. Virgil involuntarily fell to the floor, kneeling at the base of the stone. 

"Seriously," Virgil said, "what is going on?" 

_Touch the stone,_ she instructed. Without thinking, Virgil laid his hand on the stone, and the writing began to glow gold. He found himself reading the words, chanting. That was strange - he didn't know what he was saying, or how he had even read the ancient language he'd never been taught, but he was speaking the words, and the woman was beginning to glow gold too. 

Her shadow moved towards Virgil's arm, seeping into his skin. He tried to draw his hand back, but it was stuck in position, and he couldn't stop talking. Black marks began to appear on his skin, swirling patterns similar to the woman's, covering his entire right arm before he managed to pull away. 

There was a blinding flash of light, and the next moment he found himself lying in the middle of the village. The woman had disappeared. Patton rushed over besides him. 

"Virgil-" 

He sat up, rubbing the back of his head, slowly beginning to get a headache. "I..." 

Patton had wrapped their arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. "Virgil, you're-" 

"Hey, Pat," he said, awkwardly hugging back. "I think I just got possessed."


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: bad family relations, talk of religion

"So let me get this straight," Logan said, pacing back and forth in front of their table in the corner of the inn. "You ran away last night to go see your old family home-"

"Yup." 

"-knowing that some of the people there would like to see you dead-" 

"I mean, kinda." 

"-and they were the people you specifically told us to avoid."

"Look, I'm not proud of it either." 

Logan stopped. "Why? Why did you go in the first place?" 

"I don't know." Virgil shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning back on the table. "I needed some air and I ended up there. It's not like I choose to go there, it just sorta happened. And I wasn't even planning on staying! My sister showed up out of nowhere and forced me to come inside." 

Logan rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And you _followed_ her?" 

"I didn't really have much of a choice in the matter." He sighed. "Look, I literally just wanted to talk to my mother, 'cause I miss her and all, but then I find out that she's..." 

Logan frowned. Virgil didn't seem willing to finish the statement. Had something happened? 

"She's not here," Virgil finished. "And, uh, I ended up walking into the forest, like I told you, and there was some weird women who did something to my arm, and made me read from this weird stone thing, and then I woke up in the middle of the village." 

Logan stared at him, not quite believing his story, feeling like there was something else. But... No, he wasn't showing any signs of deception. He was telling the truth. Logan just wished that he could understand what was going on. 

"We should get out of here," Virgil said. "I don't... I don't think that the siblings I saw would have told anyone else about me being here, but... I don't know." 

Roman's eyes widened. "Wait. Shit. Me and Remus talked to one of your brothers last night." He stood up, prying himself out of Declan's arms and joining Virgil at the side of the table. 

Virgil seemed startled by that. "Wh- Uh, which one?" 

Roman hummed. "Think he said his name was Tyler?" 

" _Fuck_ ," Virgil whispered. "Yeah, uh, we really need-" 

The door swung open. Logan spun around, looking the newcomer up and down. He... He almost looked like Virgil. Just older. And angrier. Ah - that must have been Tyler. Turning back to the table in distress, he noticed that Virgil had disappeared. Roman stared wide-eyed at the newcomer, who was slowly making his way over to the table. 

"Where is he?" Tyler asked, his voice deep and agitated. 

Logan glanced down at him. He was a lot taller than Tyler, which Logan supposed he could use to his advantage. It probably helped that Logan was hovering a few feet of the ground. "I'm sorry, can we help you?" he asked, politely. 

"You know exactly what I want," he said. 

Logan glanced down at Roman, hoping for a little bit of help, but he was frozen in place. The other three sat around the table didn't seem to be much help either. Logan turned to face the man, humming. 

"You may have to be a little more specific," Logan said. 

"My _fucking_ brother," Tyler said, growing more agitated. "Where did he go?" 

"Tyler," Roman said, finally gathering the courage to help Logan, "I'm afraid there may have been a slight misunderstanding, your brother isn't-" 

"I _know_ he's here, freak," Tyler snapped. "Toby told me that he's in the village. I need to talk to him." 

"I'm afraid you won't be _talking_ to him today," Logan said, deciding there was no use in trying to hide Virgil's presence within the group any longer. "And we cannot disclose where he is, either. Now, how about to go back home, and leave us to continue with our work?" 

"I'm not leaving until I see my brother." 

Logan sighed. "There's nothing we can-" 

He raised his hand and grabbed Tyler's fist, which had begun to fly through the air towards Logan's face. Logan closed his eyes, sighing again, before twisting Tyler's arm down and holding it in place. Tyler whimpered, seeming to grow a little smaller. Still, he raised his free hand to try a punch again, only to find himself completely trapped in Logan's grasp. 

"Once again, you will not be talking to your brother today," Logan said, calmly. "You will, in fact, return home and-" 

Tyler spat in his face, causing Logan to let go and stumble back, bring his hands up to wipe his face. 

"Alright then." Logan cracked his knuckles. "If that's how you want things to go-" 

He charged at Tyler, going to strike him in the stomach. This time, Tyler blocked his attack and jumped back, cracking his neck. Some other people had gathered around to watch, and the flute and guitar players from last night, already drinking again, had begun to play a tune to match with with the fight. Logan sighed - seemed like this was the only way to end things. 

Tyler came at him, once again attempting to punch Logan again and again, with Logan blocking each and every attack. Logan slowly backed away, towards the centre of the room - mostly to get away from his friends. Tyler had backed him up to the bar, when he struck Logan again, this time hitting his stomach. 

Logan doubled over in pain, staring at the floor for a moment. He had banged his back on the bar, which would probably cause problems later, but he tried to ignore that. Glancing back up, he caught Tyler's fist heading towards his face, and brought up his arm to block it, pushing Tyler to the side with it. Logan rose, straightening his back as he stepped towards Tyler, anger burning in his eyes. 

Panicking, Tyler swiped at the bar, causing glasses and bottles to fly towards Logan. He lifted up his hand, creating a shield of light which caused the glasses to smash before reaching Logan. That seemed to anger Tyler even more. 

"Resorting to magic, huh?" he taunted. "Figures. Knew Nochees couldn't fight for real." 

_That_ was what made Logan snap. He threw himself at Tyler, grabbing his shoulders and squeezing tight. Unfazed, Tyler raised his fist again and struck Logan's check, causing his head to turn to the side. He let go to Tyler, raising his hand up to his own face and rubbing the wound - he was bleeding. How was he bleeding? 

"Not so tough now, huh?" 

Logan slammed his body against Tyler, pushing him to the ground. Lying on the floor, he stared at Logan, now looking afraid. Logan towered over him, anger brewing up inside him. He raised his hand, summoning a ball of light, which he intended to throw down at Tyler. Tyler held his hands out in front of him in defence. 

Growling, Logan lowered his hand and made the light disappear. Tyler scrambled to his feet, but didn't try to attack Logan again. Logan smirked and grabbed Tyler's shirt, pulling him towards him. The music had stopped. 

"Leave us alone," he whispered into Tyler's ear, "and don't try to get to Virgil again. Or next time, I won't be so soft." 

Tyler breathed in. "That- That was you being soft?" 

Logan hummed. "Oh, do you want to know what would have happened if my magic had hit you?" He smiled. "It would have seeped into your skin and burnt you from the inside out, eventually causing you to explode." That wasn't entirely true - Logan wasn't _that_ strong, and the body had ways of fighting back. He imagined the worse it would have done was stun Tyler. Although, Tyler didn't have a lot of magic in him, so there was a possibility the consequences would be much harsher. "But, of course, I'd never do that. Not to a simple Therban such as yourself." 

Tyler seemed to want nothing more than to leave the bar and get far, far away from Logan. 

"Promise that you'll leave us alone," Logan demanded. 

Tyler quickly nodded, trying to get away. 

Logan hummed, then let go of Tyler's shirt. He stumbled back, before regaining his balance and sprinting out of the inn. Sighing with relief, Logan turned to the bar, looking at the terrified barmaid cowering on the other side. 

"I apologise for all that," he said, handing the barmaid a few gold coins. "We'll be out of here soon." 

The barmaid said nothing, but took the cash. Logan returned to the group, sitting down at the table whilst the rest looked at him in awe. "What?" 

Remus' eyes glistened with excitement. "That was bloody brilliant!" 

Logan sighed. "Sorry, I try not to get like that. But not only was he a danger to Virgil, he began to insult my country, so I didn't have much of a choice." 

"No, that was actually awesome," Remus insisted. "I've never been more attracted to you." 

"Remus-" 

"Sorry." He sank into his chair. "But it's true. You're incredibly hot when you get angry." 

"You're bleeding," Patton noticed, apparently deciding to ignore Remus. "Do you want me to-" 

"Go ahead." Logan leant towards Patton and let them touch his cheek, feeling warmth spread through his body and the wetness on his cheek fade away. "Thank you, Patton." He placed his hands on his knees, turning back to the ground. "Now, I believe we should get out of here as soon as possible. Any ideas where Virgil went?" 

"I'm here," a voice said, from underneath the table. Virgil rose from the shadows, taking a seat next to Patton. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "You were... hiding beneath the table this whole time?" 

"Yeah," Virgil said. "When I saw Tyler I just kinda... hid here. Made some shadows so he couldn't see me." 

Logan nodded. "Very well done, Virgil." 

"Thanks," Virgil said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, thanks for that whole thing. Getting rid of Tyler and all. I think if he found me he would have killed me." 

"It's no problem, Virgil," Logan said. "Your safety is important to us, alright?" 

He gave him a small smile. "Yeah. Alright." 

"Now." Logan clapped his hands together. "Are we all ready to leave?" 

It wasn't long before the group was back on the road, heading towards Ignebris. It was only half a days walk from Duville to the Ignebris border, so they should be there by nightfall. Virgil stepped forward through the group, walking besides Logan. 

"Hey, uh, I was doing some thinking about that women I saw," he said. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" 

"Yeah, and, uh, you know the old gods, right?" he checked. 

"Assuming you mean the gods that we Nochee currently still worship, yes," Logan confirmed. 

"Yeah, uh, what do you know about Dratino?" he asked. "The, uh, darkness goddess." 

Logan hummed. "Well, for starters, we call them Dyra, but I imagine the two are one and the same. They're... a little intense, I believe. I'm not sure, I've never interacted with them myself as my magic tends to contradict them, but I've heard from others that when they do appear, they get what they want and they get it fast." 

Virgil glanced down to the ground as he listened to Logan, not saying a word but appearing to be deep in thought. 

"They don't tend to make conversation with those who worship them," Logan continued. "They'll just say what they need to say, do what they need to do, take what they need to take." 

He reached out his arm, drawing some swirls one his skin. Virgil looked at them, his eyes widening, then looked to his own arm. Logan couldn't tell why, as Virgil's arm was bare, but... 

"This is their mark," Logan explained. "I've heard that when they use people, this mark will appear somewhere on their body." 

Virgil breathed in. "And... this Dyra is the same as Dratino, right?" 

"I believe so." 

"I..." Virgil pulled his sleeve down and let his arm swung at his side. "I think I might have met her." 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "You do?" 

"Yeah." He glanced around. "I, uh, that woman in the forest was... distant, kinda. She wouldn't answer me when I asked what was going on. Just made me do what she... what she needed me to do, I guess. I read out this _thing_ , an incantation or something, on some stone, and her shadow - she had a shadow, like my shadow - it, like, got absorbed my my skin, and left these black, swirly marks, like what you've drawn." 

Logan hummed. "Are the marks still there?" 

He nodded. 

"Interesting." Logan stared ahead. "I can't see them." 

"I'm not lying." 

"It's alright, I believe you," Logan promised. "I'm rather proud, actually, that you've connected with the gods." 

Virgil frowned. "So... you think it was her." 

"Of course I do," Logan said. "If I were you, I'd be proud too. I'd imagine this will make you stronger." 

"I don't _want_ to be stronger," Virgil said. "I just want..." 

Logan smiled. "You don't have to use the power. But it's there. Being strong isn't something to be ashamed of, Virgil." 

Virgil sighed. "Yeah, uh, I guess." 

Logan looked ahead, still smiling.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: talk of death, illness

Roman frowned. "When did you get a mace?" His brother had a mace swinging at his side, a weapon that, as far as Roman knew, he had absolutely no experience with. 

Remus snorted. "Have you only just now realised that?" 

Roman blinked. "Wait, have you had it for a while?" 

"I brought it back at the market," he said. 

"You did?" 

"Yup." Remus grinned. He raised his hand and swung the mace around a couple times, being careful not to hit Patton in front of him. "Thought it might be useful when we fight the Dragon Witch." 

"Do you actually know how to use that?" Roman wondered. 

Remus shrugged. "Well, it's got sharp pointy things on it, so I imagine I just swing it around and hope I hit something, preferably something with a lot of blood." 

Roman sighed. "Remus. You're going to end up murdering someone." 

"Yeah, that kinda is the plan." 

"I- I mean, someone _other_ than the Dragon Witch," Roman clarified. 

"Nah." Remus chuckled. "All my murders are meticulously planned-" 

Roman fell to the floor, clutching his heart. He felt a sharp pain in his chest. Where had that come from? He was... He was fine, right? He hadn't been injured, hadn't even been in any big fights since that sea serpent back in Aquantur, and he hadn't been injured during that, so... What was going on? 

Remus hovered over him, looking concerned. "Shit. Did- Did I just murder-" He fell to the floor as well, much the same as Roman did. 

The others had gathered around, murmuring between themselves. Roman fixed his eyes on the ground, watching the grass sway in the wind, before blacking out. 

~*~

The room was dark. Roman summoned a small flame, illuminating the room around him. Remus was stood besides him, looking at him with concern. 

"Are we dead?" Remus said, looking down at himself. "Don't see any blood..." 

"I don't think we're dead, Remus," Roman stated. 

"Thank the gods." Remus sighed. "That would have been the worst death ever. Not even a _little_ bit of blood." 

He heard whispers. Sounds surrounded him, distant echoes of people that Roman seemed to recognise. A laughter that he'd heard before, followed by a cry he never wanted to hear again. Remus walked forward and Roman followed. The fire in his hand disappeared, leaving them to walk in darkness again. 

"Where did everyone go?" Roman wondered. 

"Maybe _they're_ dead." 

"Remus." 

"What? It's a possibility-" 

"No, _Remus_." Roman had turned, spotting a light out the corner of his eye. "Look-" 

Remus turned as well, following Roman's gaze. " _Oh_. That seems important." 

The two began to walk towards the light, uncertainty plaguing Roman's mine. A heavy, worried feeling settled in Roman's stomach, a hunch that something was about to go terribly, terribly wrong. A shiver moved down his spine, and the worried feeling only grew. He didn't want to be here. Sure, the pain had gone, but he'd have rather been in pain surrounded by his friends than wandering around this strange, almost unreal place. 

"Aren't you supposed to see a light when you die?" Remus said. "Like, I think we might actually be dead, Roman. You felt that pain as well, right?" 

"We're _not_ dead, Remus," Roman insisted. "This is probably just a dream or something." 

Remus hummed. "But we're both here. And we're both conscious, right? How are we _both_ in the same dream?" 

"Okay, maybe it's not a dream, but I refuse to believe that we're dead." 

The light was close now. So close that Roman could touch it. He reached out a hand, fingertips connecting to the light, and... 

His father laid on a bed, his face pale and eyes sunken. They were standing in the Palace, in their fathers chambers. Their mother stood to the side of the bed, holding a damp towel to their fathers head. The twins glanced at each other, concerned, before rushing over to the bedside. 

"Father, are you-" 

Roman reached out to touch his fingers hand, but his hand sunk right through. For a second, his father was transparent, the image fading slightly before returning to normal. They weren't really there, were they? They were just... spectators. 

Their father was saying something to their mother, but neither could hear. The sound was muffled, distant, almost non-existent. And Roman still didn't want to be here, didn't want to see his father like this. Like he was... 

"Dying," Remus whispered. "He's..." 

Roman could feel a wetness on his checks. Was this really happening? Was his father... 

Remus grabbed Roman's arm. "C'mon. We shouldn't stay here." 

"But-" 

" _Roman_." 

~*~

Roman awoke in cold sweat, gasping for air. The others were crowding around him, including Remus, who had already seemed to recover. The wetness on his cheeks hadn't gone, but he had been moved to a different place, now sheltered by trees. 

"Roman, thank goodness, you're awake," Patton said, moving their hands over Roman's body. 

Roman shoved Patton away, sitting up and grabbing Remus' arms. "Did you-" 

"Yeah, I saw," Remus said. He didn't seem to be affected by it at all. "And Logan's already done some digging." 

Roman frowned. "He-" 

"Remus has been awake for several hours now," Logan stated. "You've been out cold." 

He can't have been lying. The sun had begun to set in the distance, the first stars appearing in the sky. 

"I tried to pull you out of there," Remus said. "I... got myself out, but you stayed. Did you... see anything else?" 

Roman shook his head. "No. I was there whilst you were there." 

"Ah." Remus shuffled in his spot. "Um, so, Logan-" 

"Yes." Logan cleared his throat and showed Roman his arm, displaying a picture of a broken crown and flowers surrounding it, as well as a mountain to the side. "We believe the Silvalan King is dying." 

Roman looked down, breathing in. That... He didn't want to believe it, but he _knew_ it was true. Perhaps showing Roman and Remus that scene had been a message, a call for help. Their father needed their help, or else he would be gone. He tried to get up, but Patton pushed him back down. 

"Rest, Roman," Patton said. 

"We don't have _time_ to rest," Roman argued. "We have to... We have to get to Silvales. We have to save him - you can save him, Patton, right? There's flowers all over Logan's arms, that must mean you can save him." 

Patton hesitated. "I- I don't-" 

"What happened to Ignebris?" Virgil asked. "Isn't it a little more important to be heading there?" 

"My father is _dying_ , Virgil." 

"But-" 

"No," Logan said, "Roman's right. We should go to help the King." He breathed in. "If... If the King dies, then we've lost the war regardless of whether we defeat the Dragon Witch or not. Ignebris will take over the world. There's no use in going to fight the Dragon Witch if the King is about to die anyway." 

"Great." Roman stood up, pushing past Patton this time. "So, we should head straight to Silvales, right? Patton can heal the King, and we'll still have plenty of time to get to Ignebris. Right?" 

Patton bit their lip. "I... I don't think I can heal him." 

"Of course you can, you're brilliant at healing." 

"No, I mean." They breathed in. "This isn't some simple injury. It's probably some magical illness, there'll probably be a cure somewhere but... I'm not it." 

Roman groaned. "C'mon, Pat, work with me here-" 

"They're right," Logan said. "It wouldn’t be that simple. There must be something else." 

Remus' eyes widened. "Wait, Logan, give me your arm again." Before Logan had chance to react, Remus had already grabbed Logan's arms and pulled it up to his face. "It's the same flower as before. The one... It's all over the Palace back home. Maybe..." 

Roman went over, eyes widening upon realising what the flower was. "That's it. The flower from that... from the lullaby - remember it, Remus?" 

Remus gasped. "Yes! Oh my gods, that- that must be it." 

"What lullaby?" Logan wondered.

Roman began to sing.

" _Where the wind blows high,  
_ _Over yellow sky,  
_ _And the future seems so far away._ "

After the first verse, Remus joined him, adding in the higher harmony. 

" _A flower will sit,  
_ _In the morning mist,  
_ _And the past will be here to stay._ " 

Roman faded out for the last verse, unsure if he wanted to even think about it, but Remus continued.

" _So when faced with death,  
_ _Take the flowers breath,  
_ _And the present will make a finer day._ " 

The other four stared at them in stunned silence, before Logan smiled. 

"So, we just have to find this flower?" he guessed. "And that will heal the King?" 

Remus shrugged. "I guess so. We don't know where it is though, or if it's even real. Y'know, it's a lullaby." 

" _When the wind blows high_ ," Logan whispered, before glancing down at his arm again. "There's a mountain here. Do you think-" His eyes widened. " _Yellow sky._ Is it talking about Caetus?" 

Roman frowned. "About what?" 

"Caetus," Logan repeated. "The mountain range, next to Nochae. I've read books about it describing the yellow sky from the highest peak. Maybe..." 

"We should go," Declan said. "It's worth a shot. They used to tell stories about Caetus back in Denemuis. It's dangerous, but... I hear there's loads of magic there." 

Logan nodded. "Well, it borders Nochae and Lanamia, two of the _most_ magical places. The people there keep to themselves, but they're powerful. Haven't heard anything about a flower there, but it is a safe bet." 

"Let's go, then," Roman decided, already beginning to walk ahead. "Uh, I don't... actually know where it is, though." 

"It'll take a while to get there. If we head through Divitunia and then Lanamia, we should be there soon enough," Logan said, heading to the front to lead the way. "We're ahead of schedule, at least, so we should be fine." 

The group began to head back out into the fields, Roman falling to the back of the group whilst Logan led the way. He turned his head, hearing a rustling in the leaves, before shaking his head and following the others. There wasn't anybody there, he was probably just... scared. 

Gods, he was so, so scared. If his father died, he'd have to run the kingdom, wouldn't he? No more messing around at the Academy, no more training with Declan, just... leading the war. Running the kingdom. He'd be responsible for making sure that everything was going smoothly, that everyone was staying happy, that Silvales was still winning the war, and he _couldn't do that_. 

Logan had made that clear. He'd said that with the King dead, the war was lost, for good. And he was right. Because under Roman's control, everything would fall apart. Ignebris would take over Silvales before Roman even had the chance to return home. 

Declan fell by his side, brushing their fingertips against his. "You'll be okay, Roman," they whispered, apparently sensing Roman's fear. 

Roman interlocked his fingers with Declan's, holding onto them tight. "If... If this all goes wrong, and I become King, you'll still be there, right?" 

Declan seemed a little hurt by that statement, but their face soon softened into a smile. "Of course I will, my prince. I'll be with you every step of the way."


	35. Chapter 35

The moon was high in the dark, starless sky when the group finally decided to set up camp, despite Roman's protest, just outside the Divitunia border. Patton had argued that whilst it was important that they reached Caetus soon, they also all needed their rest, and travelling by night was never a particularly safe thing to do. Especially as they were now entering Divitunia, where magic was strong and many monsters roamed the land between cities, places where not many people would visit. 

Divitunia wasn't a bad country. It was probably the most advanced civilisation on the continent, always coming up with new inventions to help with life and new trends to make the world a more interesting place. It was filled with the rich and powerful, those seeking a life of fame and fortune, as well as people who wanted more out of life, who wanted to bring their brilliant ideas, their wildest dreams to reality. Natives were sorcerers, most of which were exceedingly powerful, but people flocked there from all over the continent, wishing for a new start. 

Patton had visited Divitunia a few times, but had never felt the urge to return. Everything was loud there, crowded, always moving around. Nothing like their home country, where everything was peaceful all the time, calm and chill. It scared them, almost. They didn't know how to act around anybody living there. They felt like everybody was watching them all the time, judging them. 

They knew a couple Lanamians who had moved to Divitunia, trying to spread around their art and music. And Patton supported them, a hundred percent, but... they couldn't bring themself to visit, despite both of them being quite close friends, before they moved away at least. Sometimes they'd return to Lanamia whilst Patton was around and they'd tell them stories about their new lives, about all the amazing things that could happen in Divitunia. None of it sounded particularly tempting to Patton. They didn't want that lifestyle. 

And on top of all that, Divitunia was in a bad state right now, what with the war going on and all. Monsters already frequently showed up in the countryside between cities, but with the recent wave from Ignebris, Patton had heard that you couldn’t walk five minutes through Divitunia without bumping into a monster. Most citizens were alright, as they mostly stuck to the cities, but for adventurers like Patton and their friends... well, it wasn't exactly a good idea to be wandering around Divitunia. 

It wasn't like they had much of a choice, though. The twins' father was in trouble, and the wellbeing of their friends meant everything to Patton, so of course they wanted to help, _needed_ to help. This was the best option for them. Besides, after Divitunia, they'd get to go through Lanamia, which was at the very least something to look forward to. 

Patton laid back in the grass, staring up at the clouds. The group hadn't set up tents, figuring they'd be safe enough for the few hours of night that remained. Roman had lit a campfire at least, although it wasn't particularly needed, as Therban nights were warm enough anyway. 

Virgil fell besides them, reaching down to take their hand. Patton smiled, taking his hand gently. 

"You doing alright?" Virgil asked, turning his head to face Patton. 

Patton smiled at him. "Yeah, of course. You?" 

"I'm good," Virgil said. "We're heading to Lanamia, right?" 

Patton's grin widened. "Yes! Oh my gosh, you're gonna get to see my home. Oh, maybe we'll be able to visit my village! You'll love it there." 

Virgil smiled. "Yeah. I think I will." He turned his head again, looking up at the sky. "I've been thinking, y'know, and... I think I might move to Lanamia." 

Patton raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" 

"When all this is over, I mean." He breathed in. "Like, after I'm done with the Academy. I can't really... go back to Therba, y'know?" 

Patton sat up, their fingers still intertwined with Virgil's. "You're really just gonna... leave that life behind?" 

Virgil scoffed. "What _life_? I haven't lived there since I was ten. Nobody there likes me. There isn't _really_ anybody at the Academy who likes me either." 

Patton made a concerned noise. 

"Except for you, of course," he quickly said, "and the rest of us." He sighed. "I kinda just want a fresh start, y'know?" He bit his lip. "It's like... y'know back in Finsby Woods when you were talking about family and shit?" 

Patton frowned. "Uh..." 

"You asked me if I felt like you guys were family," Virgil reminded them. Oh, yeah, they did do that. They nodded. "I know I said that I didn't, but... I kinda _want_ to." 

Patton stared at him, not sure what to make of that. That was... well, it certainly wasn't a bad thing. It was a great thing, actually. It meant that Virgil trusted them, trusted all of them. Especially now that they knew what Virgil's family was really like, it was... well, Patton couldn't help but feel honoured that Virgil felt that way about them. That he was finally willing to put his past behind him. 

"You should move to Lanamia," Patton agreed. "Come live in my village. I'll be moving back there after the Academy, so... you could come with, if you want." 

The tips of Virgil's mouth twisted up. "Really?" 

"Yeah." They laid back down, moving a little closer to Virgil. "It'll be fun, having you by my side all the time. 

Virgil hummed. "Is... Is that something you want?" 

"Huh?" 

"I mean, do you actually want to be with me all the time?" Virgil wondered. 

Patton laughed. "Well, maybe not _all_ of the time, that sounds a little suffocating, but... most of the time, sure. I'd love to spend more time with you." 

Virgil was silent upon hearing that. 

"Is... Is there something wrong with that?" 

Virgil shook his head. "No. I- I feel the same, I guess. Since we got here I've been thinking that. Been trying to figure out why." 

" _Oooo_ ," Remus said, from the other side of the campfire, "someone's got a _crush_." 

Virgil sat up, scooped up a handful of grass and dirt, and threw it at Remus. "Absolutely not. And stop listening to our conversation." 

"It's not as if there's anything _else_ to listen to," Remus pointed out. "It's only you two that's talking." 

"Go to sleep," Virgil suggested. 

"Nah, I'm good." 

"Talk to your brother then, or something," Virgil tried again. 

"He's sleeping." 

"Maybe try following his example." 

Remus groaned. "I don't _want_ to, though." 

Logan grabbed Remus' arm and pulled him down, forcing him to shut up and go to sleep. Virgil breathed a sigh of relief, falling back down and turning his body to face Patton. 

"Sorry," he whispered. 

Patton frowned. "What for?" 

"Now everyone thinks I have a crush on you," he said, "which isn't even remotely true." 

Patton was vaguely disappointed by this, but they didn't quite know why. 

"Let's just go to sleep," Virgil said, after Patton's silence. He closed his eyes. 

"Yeah, alright," they said quietly, turning onto their back and closing their eyes as well. 

Sleep didn't come. Instead, thoughts continued to circle Patton's mind. What was going on with them? Why did that last exchange make them feel so... weird? Did _they_ have a crush on Virgil? 

...nah, they probably didn't. They were just good friends with him, right? That also explained why they were so quick to suggest Virgil moving in with them, because he was their friend and they wanted him to have a good life. A life in Lanamia, even if Virgil was alone there, was certainly better than a life with a family who either wanted him to be someone he wasn't or dead. 

Patton wasn't sure if they slept that night. They remembered watching the sunrise before the others awoke. 

~*~ 

They reached the first city of Divitunia in the early morning, just as people were beginning to exit their houses and head to work. The journey to the city of Tranque hadn't been particularly difficult, as it was close enough to the border that they didn't run into any monsters on the way, but Patton imagined that the journey through the wilderness on the way to Lanamia would be much harder. 

The city of Tranque was astonishing, though. Tall, red brick buildings lined the streets, with statues that almost appeared to be living scattered about the road. Carriages zoomed past without horses, metal gears allowing them to run - something that the rest of the continent had yet to introduce. People wandered the streets, forming large crowds and barging past the group, as they tried to navigate the almost maze-like city. 

Patton could _swear_ that those statues were moving, and it was creeping them out. Statues didn't usually do that, did they? They squinted at one, watching its arm wave in the air, and they realised it _was_ moving. In a very similar way to the carriages, actually. There were gears scattered about its body, turning as the statue twisted. That unsettled Patton. 

Logan, however, seemed to be having the time of his life. He ran up to one of the statues, peering at it with intrigue. "Interesting," he mumbled. "It's... moving on its own." 

A man stepped towards them, wearing a black and white suit and a top hat. "Are you tourists?" he asked. 

Logan glanced at him. "I suppose so." 

"You should go to the museum today," he said. "The person who invented these statues is doing a presentation." 

Logan's eyes lit up, as he turned to the rest of the group. 

Declan sighed. "Logan. We don't exactly have time to visit a museum." 

"It'll only be for a couple hours," Logan said. 

"I'm pretty sure our _mission_ is more important." 

"This could be useful, though!" 

"How exactly would this be useful?" 

Logan didn't seem to have an answer for that.

"Sorry," the man said, "perhaps you're all too busy for that. I could attempt to explain it, though, if that's something that you'd like." 

Logan smirked, turning to face the man. "Yes. Please do." 

The man nodded and pointed his cane at the statue. "Recently, we've been working on a way to use magic as a power source for things other than ourselves. We've managed to create these simple gears to move objects - mostly, we've been using them for the carriages, but whilst figuring it all out we also made these statues. Artists helped with the design, and our scientists worked extremely hard to get the movement just right." 

Logan's eyes were fixated on the statue. "Fascinating." 

Declan grabbed Logan's arm, dragging him away. "C'mon, we need to get moving." 

"Fine," Logan grumbled, tearing his arm away. The group continued to move through the city. 

Patton hummed. "Maybe we should get a carriage through Divitunia," they suggested. 

Logan turned his head to face them. "Why? It shouldn't be that long of a walk." 

"But there's all those monsters out there." 

"We can handle that," Logan claimed. 

"But we could get one of those carriages that move with the gears." 

Logan's eyes widened. "Actually, Patton, you may be on to something."


	36. Chapter 36

"What do you _mean_ we can't take the carriage out of the city?" Logan demanded, getting increasingly frustrated. 

The teenager in charge of hiring out the carriages shrugged. "Listen, I don't make the rules." 

"We need _something_ to take us to the next city," Logan said. 

She sighed. "Look, I can't help you. You shouldn't really be leaving the city anyway." 

Logan opened his mouth to argue, but closed it again and turned back to the group, a strained look on his face. 

"It's alright, Logan," Patton said, softly. "I mean, we can still walk, right?" 

He shook his head. "It's dangerous out there. We really do need some sort of transport." 

"Sir," the teenager spoke up again, "I don't think it's even possible for you to leave the city. There's a battle going on just outside the borders, y'know. We've all been instructed to stay inside the city. I think they might have closed the gates." 

Logan groaned. "We _need_ to get to Lanamia, alright? It's important." 

She blinked. "I don't think taking a vacation is exactly important right." 

"It's not a bloody vacation!" Logan exclaimed, which didn't faze the girl one bit. "This is important business. It's to help with the war effort. I already told you that we're from the Academy, we can handle ourselves out of the city. But we _need_ some mode of transport." 

"Look, I'll see what I can do," she said. "There's a café next door, go wait there or something." She turned around and left. Logan groaned. 

Patton gently touched his shoulder. "C'mon, Lo, we can go sit down for a bit, okay? We'll figure something out." 

Reluctantly, Logan agreed, and followed the group to the café next door, where they sat down on a couple of iron tables outside, decorated in lattice pattern, three sitting on each table. Patton went to get drinks for the six of them, whilst they all began to talk amongst themselves. 

Remus had a mischievous glint in their eyes. Logan glared at them. "What are you planning?" 

"I'm gonna steal a carriage," they said. 

"No, Remus, you're not." 

"Yes, I am." 

"Remus-" 

"You can't stop me." 

Logan reached over to grab their arm, but they had already stood up and ran off. He sighed. "Roman, can you do something about your sibling?" 

Roman shook his head. "Nah, let them blow off some steam. They might actually pull it off, then we’d have a carriage at least." 

"It's not an issue of money," Logan said. "It's the fact that we're now _stuck_ in the city." 

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Declan mumbled, standing up as well and walking away towards the gates. 

Logan sighed. "Roman, could you maybe do something about your boyfriend, as well?" 

Roman frowned. "Shit. I think he might be trying to flirt with the guard." He stood up. "Yeah, I'll be right back," he said, walking over towards Declan. 

Breathing in to try to compose himself, Logan leant back in his chair. Patton returned with the drinks, looking a little confused upon noticing that the three Silvalans - well, two Silvalans and one honorary Silvalan - had disappeared. They placed the drinks down on the table, and took their seat. 

"What happened to them?" they asked, looking between Virgil and Logan. Due to the annoyance bubbling inside of him, Logan wasn't willing to respond. 

Virgil apparently decided to give Patton a crash course. "Remus is off committing crimes, Declan is flirting with the guard, and Roman is either joining Declan or trying to stop him." 

Patton blinked. "Uh, shouldn't we maybe be trying to stop Remus instead?" 

"I mean, probably," Virgil said. "Honestly, I kinda just wanna see how this pans out." 

Patton took a sip of their drink. "Okay. Well. Any news on the carriage?" 

They heard a vaguely familiar high-pitched sound in the distance, something between a cackle and a scream. Logan sighed. "I have a feeling that might be the carriage now." 

A carriage pulled up to the café, with Remus hanging out the window. "Get in!" they shouted. A horde of soldiers was running towards them. 

Sighing, Logan hopped into the carriage, with Patton and Virgil following, both bringing their drinks. The carriage sped off towards the gates, the sudden acceleration causing both Virgil and Patton to drop their drinks, spilling them on the floor. They approached Roman and Declan, who had a guard trapped between them, Declan twisting his hair around his finger and Roman pushing himself up against the guards body. Remus briefly hopped out the carriage and dragged their brother and his boyfriend back inside, before the carriage charged out of the gates. 

The soldiers behind them came to a stop as they sped off into the countryside, leaving the city behind them. Logan relaxed in his chair, feeling slightly less disappointed in Remus since their plan had certainly worked, but still a little annoyed. 

"If this means we're now banned from Tranque, we’re no longer friends,” he said to Remus, who went to sit besides him. The carriage was able to drive itself, apparently, and the road ahead was straight so there wasn’t much need for directions. It wasn’t exactly a smooth ride, though, with the bumpy, broken path beneath them and the jittering wheels allowing them to move forward. 

Remus pouted. “That’s not fair.” 

“You could have gotten into a lot of trouble there, Remus,” Logan said. 

“I _know_ ,” they said, “that’s the _point._ It’s so _boring_ if we don’t break a _few_ rules.” 

Logan sighed. “Remus, we aren’t here to commit crimes. We’re here to help your father.” 

Remus groaned. 

“You _do_ want to help your father, right?” Logan asked. 

Remus shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Probably should.” 

Logan frowned at them, skeptically, but let the matter drop anyway. “Seriously though, if you commit any more crimes, you and I are gonna have a serious talk.” 

Remus lifted their leg up, letting it rest over Logan’s legs. “Nah. You love me too much.” They threw their arm around Logan’s shoulder, pulling him closer. Logan froze, a light blue blush forming on his cheeks. 

Roman frowned at them, looking a little confused. “Uh, is there something you two want to tell us?” 

Logan closed his eyes. Maybe there was. Maybe something _was_ going on between Logan and Remus. He loved them, he really did, and he definitely wasn’t _complaining_ that Remus wanted to be close to him, wanted to be close in _this_ way, but... he still wasn’t ready for this. Wasn’t ready for a committed relationship. Wasn’t sure if that was even what he wanted. He pushed Remus off him, sliding to the side a little. 

“No, there’s nothing,” he said, in a monotone voice. 

Remus looked at him, seeming almost hurt. “Lo...” They trailed off, then cleared their throat. “I mean, yeah, there’s nothing we need to say. I’m just a weirdo.” 

Roman seemed to agree with that, and didn’t attempt to bring his concerns back up. 

Remus was still close to Logan, though. Still touching him. He supposed that was just because the carriage was small, not really fit for six people - everyone else was pushed up together too, but with Remus it seemed almost deliberate. And Logan wasn’t sure what to make of that. 

Gods, before that kiss it had never even occurred to Logan that physical touch with Remus could be weird. He’d never even noticed it before, never really cared that Remus always tried to be close to him. He never thought about whether or not he liked the attention, never really acknowledged it. In general, Logan wasn’t particularly a fan of physical affection, but with Remus it was... fine. 

But it was starting to not be fine. Because now Logan was beginning to realise that the only reason it _was_ fine was because he wanted it from _Remus_ , and Remus alone. Because he... _felt_ things, for Remus, things that he didn’t quite understand. 

The carriage came to a stop. Logan frowned. “We can’t be at the border already, can we?” 

Remus shook their head. “We’re not. It’s just-“ They peeked out the window. “Oh, shit.” 

“What?” Logan asked. “What’s happening?” 

“Uh, we may have driven straight into a battlefield.” 

“We _what_?” 

As if to prove Remus’ point, a burst of fire flew past the window, followed by a horde of soldiers running past them in the distance. 

Logan breathed in. “Well. This is why we didn’t want to come to Divitunia in the first place.” 

Remus stood up, heading towards the front of the carriage and hitting the engine to see if that would make it go. It didn’t. “I think the carriage might have broken down, as well.” 

Logan hummed. “It’s made of magic, right?” 

“Something like that.” 

“Maybe we need more.” He leant out the window and hovered his hand near one of the gears, creating a small light and pushing his magic into it. For a second, the gears started turning again, and they continued moving, until the carriage flipped up into the air and crashed back down to the ground, in a blur that Logan didn’t quite catch or understand. 

Next thing he knew, he was laid on the ground, leg hurting like hell and a weight pressing down onto his body. He glanced around him, but couldn’t see anything past the gear right up in his face. That’s when he realised that a) he had fallen out of the carriage and b) the carriage had fallen on top of him. The pain intensified as he realised his situation, and he involuntarily screamed. 

He tried to push himself up, as he could still move his arms at least, but he was trapped. He could hear commotion all around him, explosions and cries in the distance, as well as frantic muttering between his friends. The rest of them were all still inside the carriage, Logan was pretty sure - that’s where all of the voices were coming from. He heard a door open, and somebody landing on the ground next to his head, then more people landing, and hands gripping the sides of the carriage, then a loud bang as the carriage hit the floor once again. 

“Logan,” Patton breathed, kneeling down besides him and placing a hand on his legs. “You... Are you alright?” 

Logan breathed in, trying to compose himself. “I think my legs are broken.” 

Patton glanced up. “Virgil, get the first aid kit, now.” 

Virgil nodded and returned to the carriage, now just a pile of metal and gears, and dragged out the bags, digging around for the first aid kit. Whilst he searched, Patton continued to work his own magic on Logan’s legs, whilst Logan just tried to breathe and tried not to lose himself. Eventually Virgil returned, and Logan soon had a bandage wrapped around each leg. He tried to stand up, but fell back to the floor with a groan. 

“You’ll have to rest your legs for a bit, Logan,” Patton said, which Logan was not happy about in the slightest. 

There was an explosion of fire that landed a few feet away from them, but thankfully didn’t cause any of them any harm. 

“What are we meant to do, then?” Logan asked. “We can’t just sit on a bloody _battlefield_.” 

Remus grabbed Logan’s arm and helped him up, pulling his arm up around their shoulder. “We can walk.” 

Patton shook their head. “We’re on a _battlefield_.” 

Another explosion, this time a little further away. 

“Virgil, make a shadow, hide us,” Logan instructed. “We can make it out.” 

Virgil hesitated. “I- I don’t think that-“ 

“It’ll be fine,” Logan interrupted. 

“But-“ 

“Just do it.” 

Virgil thrusted his arms out and a shadow swept over them, concealing them from the outside world. Roman came by Logan’s other side and moved his arm over his own soldier, helping Remus to carry him. The group moved forward, trying to walk as quickly as possible but of course having trouble given Logan’s condition. 

Ugh. This was _his_ fault that this had to happen, wasn’t it? One hit from an explosion could kill all of them, and it would be Logan’s fault for breaking his fucking legs. Gods, how had he let this happen? 

“It’s not your fault, Logan,” Remus whispered, as though he could read Logan’s mind. “A soldier from Ignebris hit the carriage.”

Logan glanced at him. “Really?” 

“Yeah.” Remus breathed in. “You were just in a bad place at a bad time.” 

Logan’s eyes moved to the floor. “Oh.” That made him feel just a tiny bit better. There... wasn’t anything he could have done, was there? 

The shadow around them faded. Logan looked over at Virgil, who was panting for breath. 

“Sorry,” Virgil said, raising his arms again. 

“No,” Declan said, grabbing Virgil’s wrist. “Look.” 

A group of Divituni soldiers stood in front of them, staring at them with concern. One rushed up to the group. 

“Are you-“ 

“We’re travellers,” Declan quickly explained. “From the Academy. On a mission to help with the war effort. We were travelling across Divitunia and got caught in the crossfire. One of our team members has broken his leg.” 

The sorcerers exchanged glances, before beginning to walk away, motioning for the group to follow. “C’mon, we’ll get you some place safe.” 

Declan smiled. “Thank you.”

They all followed the sorcerers to their base, where Logan was able to finally sit down. It hurt to even bend his legs, but he powered through it - he’d walked this far, this would be fine. Things would be okay.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: religion

Virgil sat down on the floor of the base, crossing his legs and resting his head in his hands. He tried to ignore the pounding in his head, the aching in his bones, trying to get himself back to normal. That had been a lot of magic, dangerous magic that could have _hurt_ the others, could have hurt _him_. If he had used any more, it probably would have hurt him, a lot more than it already had. He may have not even been here. 

Patton sat down besides him, rubbing their hand over his back. "Hey, Virge, you alright?" 

Virgil breathed in. "I'm good," he said, dropping his arms down to the floor and trying to sit up straight. He glanced over at Declan and Roman, who were explaining their situation to the sorcerers. Remus was sat to the side with Logan, keeping him company whilst the others figured everything out. "Just a little light headed." 

"You're not hurt, are you?" 

"Nah." Virgil gave them a weak smile. "I promise, I'm fine. Just need to recharge, I think." 

"Definitely no injuries?" Patton prodded. 

"Definitely no injuries," Virgil said, though he wasn't entirely sure if he was telling the truth. After everything that had just happened, he wouldn't have been surprised if he _had_ been injured, but, if he was, it certainly wasn't as bad as Logan. Maybe a few cuts, maybe a burn, at the very least probably a bruise, but Virgil would live. He didn't need Patton taking care of him all the time. 

Patton backed off, at least, relaxing besides Virgil. "We're close to Lanamia," they said. "I can feel it." 

Virgil smiled. "We'll be there soon," he said. 

"I hope so." Patton sighed. "What if the fighting is in Lanamia too?" 

Virgil hummed. "I doubt it. Lanamia is peaceful, right?" 

"Aquantur was peaceful," Patton reminded him, "and Ignebris still attacked them. And we sent all the injured Aquantians to Lanamia... what if-" 

"They'll be fine, Patton," Virgil said, despite having doubts himself. "Maybe we can visit them." 

Patton nodded. "Yeah. Maybe we can." They opened up their palm and summoned a small flower, handing it to Virgil. "Eat this." 

Virgil frowned. "Sorry?" 

"Eat it," Patton repeated. "You said you were feeling light headed, right?" 

"Yeah, but-" 

"The flower has some spare magic in it," Patton explained. "It might make you feel better." 

Virgil wasn't sure how he felt about that. It sounded an awful lot like stealing Patton's power, but... no, Patton had healing powers, didn't they? That was probably all this was. Some extra healing magic. Virgil took the flower and put it in his mouth, instantly feeling better as he began to chew. "Thanks," he said, after swallowing. Damn. That... That really did make him feel better. 

Patton grinned. "No problem! I... I should probably do that for everyone else. Even if none of us were badly injured in the crash, we're likely to all have some sort of small injury." 

Virgil hummed. "Yeah, true." He tried not to think about the fact that one of them _had_ been badly injured - Logan was barely able to walk, and Virgil suspected he was attempting to hide other injuries as well. And he wouldn't be surprised if any of the others were hiding things, in order to keep a focus on Logan. 

Before Virgil had even realised that Patton had left, he looked to the side and noticed that Roman had taken their place. 

"Hey," Virgil said. 

"The sorcerers are going to help us get to Lanamia," he said, apparently not bothering with small talk. Virgil was somewhat relieved about that. "There are battles taking place all over Divitunia, apparently, but one sorcerer offered to lead us around the border, away from the battles, to get to Lanamia." 

"That's good," Virgil said. In all honesty, he wasn't that bothered about hearing the plan - it was good to know what would be happening, but he imagined everything would soon go haywire anyway, as all their plans had done in the past. It didn't exactly help to ease his nerves about all this. For now, he thought it would probably be better to just go along with everything, and hope that he would come out alright. 

"We're gonna get a few more people to look over Logan," Roman added. "Make sure he's alright before we head off. Don't think Remus and I can carry him for much longer." 

Virgil snorted. "Think you could carry him forever." 

"Well, maybe _I_ could," Roman agreed, "but Remus is starting to complain about their arms hurting, and if they say that one more time I may just murder them." 

Virgil assumed that Roman was joking, in that way that people did about their siblings, but he wasn't quite sure. Roman probably could kill them, as well, which was probably what led Virgil to his doubts. 

"If all else fails, though, we may be able to get enough magic for Logan to float permanently," Roman said. "The sorcerers can lend magic, I think." 

Virgil glanced down. "Yeah." 

Roman sighed and stood up. "Well, we'll let you know when we're ready to go." 

Virgil gave him a thumbs up, before continuing to stare at the ground, trying to stop the world from spinning. 

~*~ 

The group set off again at nightfall, this time accompanied by two sorcerers. The fighting around Divitunia has calmed down a little, as most soldiers, from both Divitunia and Ignebris, took time to rest. Concentrating hard, Virgil had been able to hide them in his shadow once again, mostly to hide them from the monsters roaming the countryside during the night. Logan was walking a bit more, able to walk without the aid of Roman and Remus at least, but he was in no fit position to fight. He spent most of his time hovering off the ground. This wasn't going quite as well as they all had hoped. 

They'd been walking for a while now - it must have been approaching midnight. Everyone was too wired up to settle down and rest. Even if they weren't, the sorcerers wouldn't allow it - contrary to what the group had been led to believe, it was apparently safer to travel around Divitunia at nighttime, as long as you knew what you were doing. 

One of the sorcerers ended up next to Virgil. "How are you doing this?" they asked, curiously. 

Virgil shrugged. "I still don't know. Been trying to figure it all my whole life." 

"You're not from Divitunia, right?"

"Right." Virgil sighed. "I'm Therban."

They raised an eyebrow. "Therban? But you-" 

"I know, this whole thing confuses me too," he said. "I... think it might have something to do with the old gods. But I'm not sure. My family don't know either, and they aren't all too pleased." 

The sorcerer hummed, before holding out their hand. "I'm Joan," they introduced. 

"Virgil," he replied, deciding not to take Joan's hand. Apparently getting the idea, Joan withdrew their own hand. "How much longer do we have till we're at Lanamia?" 

Joan thought for a moment. "I'd say we'll be there by midday tomorrow." 

Ah. So a while, then. Virgil wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep his magic up. 

Joan soon moved away, allowing Virgil to concentrate more. The shadow seemed to be beginning to fade, which wasn't a good sign. He tried to push more magic out, tried to get out all he had within him, but it still wasn't enough. He glanced down at his arm, noticing that the black mark was... growing. Huh. He tried again to push out his magic, and the black mark shrank. He felt no difference in the magic within him, so... 

Was that the goddess? Had... Had Dratino leant him some power? Like... Like she had done in the forest. That must have been what she did - maybe he needed it for whatever incarnation she had made him carry out. It was like she had given him a piece of her, like she had almost controlled him. 

He wasn't even thinking about his magic anymore, and the shield was only growing stronger. The black mark shifted on his arm, growing and shrinking with every step he took. That... Fuck, was the goddess actually _helping_ him? 

Well. He never thought that he'd actually do this, but Virgil found himself praying. Trying to speak to the goddess, trying to thank her, or ask for her continued help, or just letting her know that he appreciated her supposed existence. He didn't really know how this whole worship thing was supposed to work, but... he could try. It seemed to work, at least. He certainly began to feel a little stronger. 

He felt a hand land on his shoulder. He glanced back, seeing a woman's face for a moment, with long, flowing black hair, just like the woman in the forest. Dratino, the goddess of darkness. She was right there, wasn't she?

But then Virgil blinked, and it was just Patton. He forced out a small, "Hey." 

Patton moved their arm down, taking Virgil's hand and squeezing it tight. Virgil didn't complain. "We're almost at Lanamia." 

"We are?" 

"Yup," Patton said, "I can feel my powers growing stronger. I can... I can almost _hear_ my people, Virgil. They're awaiting my return." 

"Are they all alright?" Virgil asked. 

Patton nodded. "I think so. I... hope so." 

Virgil squeezed Patton's hand back. The shadow around them disappeared. Virgil's eyes widened. _Fuck_. 

Patton let go of his hand, taking a step away. The group had come to a stop. "What happened?" 

"I don't know," Virgil said, truthfully. He _didn't_ know - he wasn't growing weak, or running out of power. Last time, he had at least known that his powers were running short, which gave him an explanation as to why this had happened, but... his powers were _fine_. Even if the goddess had stopped feeding him more magic, it still should have stayed up for a while longer. 

In the distance, they saw a horde of soldiers, but... not from Divitunia, or even Ignebris. They were... 

"Denemi," Declan whispered, instinctively stepping away from the group. The soldiers had already spotted them and had obviously recognised Declan, as they began to approach. 

Joan turned to Declan. "Is this a problem?" they asked. "You are Denemi, right?" 

"Yeah, uh, they don't like me," they admitted. "And. I think I should probably be going." They stepped further away from the group, looking as though they were about to run at any moment. 

"Declan," Roman said, stepping towards them. "You-" 

"I have to go, Roman," they said. "I can meet back up with you all later, alright?" 

"But-" 

"They're carrying the Ignebris flag," Logan noticed, floating down besides Roman. "They're not just looking for you, Declan. They'll be after all of us." 

"I'm a target for them," Declan said. "I'm... sorry." 

The next moment, they were gone. Invisible. And nobody had any clue where they were, but Virgil imagined they had already ran. 

Roman cursed. "Declan, I swear to all the gods-" He began to run away as well, despite everyone else trying to stop him. It wouldn't work, anyway. He was dead set on going after Declan, wasn't he? And he seemed to know where he was going, like he was able to sense where Declan was. Maybe he actually could - Virgil wouldn't put it past him. 

Logan let out a frustrated groan. "Those _idiots_." 

"It's alright, Logan," Patton said. "We can regroup in Lanamia, right?" 

Logan glanced down. "Yeah, of course." He breathed in. "Guess we'll have to take the soldiers on our own." 

"We can do this," Patton encouraged, summoning flowers all around them, floating in the space over their head. Following their lead, Virgil raised his hands to produce a cloud of darkness swirling all around his body, ready to strike at any moment. Logan floated a few feet in the air, the last stars in the sky, just before the sunrise, floating down to spin around his head. Remus gripped their mace tight, swinging it up over their shoulders, and got into a battle stance. The two sorcerers raised their staffs, beginning to glow a bright yellow. 

And the group braced themselves for impact with the army, preparing themselves for whatever horrible fight was about to take place. All while Declan and Roman fled, possibly heading further into danger. The morning sun shone down onto what was now a battlefield, almost like a spotlight. 

Things were getting worse on the continent - the fact that the Denemi had joined forces with Ignebris was enough to prove that. There was nothing that any of them could do about it, except fight.


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: alcohol consumption, kidnapping

He didn't want to admit it, but Roman had completely lost Declan. He was pretty sure he was heading in the right direction for a bit, at least - perhaps for five or ten minutes. But then he started to run out of breath, and he knew that Declan wouldn't slow. He couldn't feel Declan's presence anymore, and was instead left to wander Divitunia, glancing around for any sign of his knight. 

He found himself in another city, with a pretty similar layout to Tranque but a very different atmosphere, no joy or wonder. Perhaps once upon a time it lived up to Tranque, but now it seemed... tense. He noticed a few buildings crumbling in the distance, and the people wandering the streets looked scared, as if something terrible was about to happen at any moment. Or maybe as if something terrible had already happened. 

People stared at him with intrigue. He puffed out his chest to look as confident as possible, to hide how scared he was for Declan, to try to give an ounce of hope to these people. This seemed like the kind of place Declan would hide - no soldiers around, so perhaps whatever battle had clearly happened here had ended long ago, perhaps the army had moved on. And it was a big town, plenty of places to hide, somewhere the Denemi wouldn't expect them. Just like he'd chosen Silvales - a place where the royalty could protect them, where they could hide amongst the trees.

But after wandering around for a while, Roman found no trace of them. He headed into a bar, in hopes that he could maybe talk to the barkeeper, who'd maybe have some information. 

He leant one arm on the bar and waited for the man to come and serve him. The barkeeper was tall, with dark brown hair and a tired expression on his face. He wore a leather jacket - something that Roman hadn't seen a lot of around the continent, but perhaps they were more popular in Divitunia - with a white shirt and dark blue trousers. 

"What can I get for you?" he asked. 

"A pint, please," Roman replied. "Any ale's fine." 

The barkeeper raised an eyebrow. "You old enough for that?" 

"Yeah, obviously." He wasn't - Roman's eighteenth birthday was coming up soon, but he was still seventeen. However, he had always been allowed to drink ale back home, so this would be fine, right? Besides, he needed a drink right now. Perhaps it would ease his anxiety about Declan. 

The barkeeper didn't seem to believe him, but he began to pour the drink out anyway. "Alright." He handed the glass to Roman. "That's five gold." 

Roman blinked in shock. _Five gold_? For a single drink? Sighing, he ruffled around in his pockets and produced the money. He had enough of it anyway. 

"Thanks," the barkeeper said, before returning to his duties. 

"Wait," Roman called, after taking a swig of his drink. He didn't like that, one bit - it was _nothing_ like the ale back home - but he continued to drink anyway. "Can I ask you something?" 

The barkeeper looked annoyed, but since the rest of the bar was empty - probably because it was still technically morning - he stepped back towards Roman. "Sure." 

"I'm Roman, by the way," he quickly introduced. 

"Remy." 

"Okay, Remy - have you seen a Denemi come by here?" he asked. "Little shorter than me. Shoulder length hair, blonde at the ends. Green scales all the way down their face and left half of their body." 

Remy was silent for a moment, before shaking his head. "Nah. Sorry." 

Roman sighed. "It's alright." He downed the rest of his pint - still disgusting, but whatever. 

"You're a satyr," Remy pointed out. 

Roman frowned, a little confused by why Remy had mentioned that. "Yeah?" 

"What do you want a Denemi for?" he wondered. 

Roman bit his lip. He wasn't really sure how much he could tell Remy without giving Declan's position away. He had no idea who Remy was in contact with, or if there was anyone he may let it slip to. But he had to say _something_. 

"They're a friend," Roman said. "We, uh, work together." Well, Declan worked for him, but that was close enough. "They've been missing for a while, wasn't sure if he might have passed through." 

Remy hummed. "Might have been in the city. I don't know, I'm stuck here most of the time." 

"Ah." Roman tapped his finger on the bar. 

"I can help look, if you want," Remy offered. 

Roman smiled. "Yeah?" 

"Yeah." Remy leant over the bar. "Where'd you see them last?" 

~*~ 

Remus panted for breath, after having dived behind a rock for a short rest. They'd been fighting the army of Denemi for what felt like hours, and maybe _had_ been hours - the sun was high in the sky now, so it must have been hours. There hadn't been any injuries just yet, the six of them together were handling the situation pretty well, but more soldiers just kept coming. Not just Denemi, either - Ignebris soldiers were starting to join the fighting. 

A Denemi soldier landed next to them, raising his sword above his head. Panicking, Remus swung their mace, hitting the soldiers chest and sending him through the air, landing a few feet away. Remus summoned some poison in their hand and threw it at the soldier, the poison hitting his face and killing him instantly. Remus took some more deep breaths, before getting back up and joining the fighting again. 

They swung their mace around, the novelty of this being the first time they got to properly use their mace quickly fading. With each new soldier that they killed, the feeling became less exciting, less exhilarating, and they started to feel... bad. Tired, mostly, but also kind of guilty, that all these lives were being lost. Denemuis was on _their side_ just a couple weeks ago - why was it different now? 

Maybe it had something to do with Declan. Maybe Ignebris had offered help to hunt them down. Or maybe Denemius just had a change of heart. Maybe they realised they were on the losing side of the war, and decided to switch, decided they wanted to win for the sake of winning rather than win for the sake of doing what was right. 

They felt a hand land on their shoulder, and cold metal push up against their skin. Another Denemi was in front of them, pressing a sword up against their neck, but... she wasn't killing him. 

"Hey," she said, glancing back at another soldier, "this is one of the Silvales heirs, isn't it?" 

The other soldier stepped over, examining Remus. They didn't dare move, afraid that the sword may sink a little too deep if they tried to escape. Instead, they looked over at Logan, trying to send him a silent message of help. 

"It is," the second soldier said. "Tie it up. It'll be useful." 

They felt someone take their mace away and wrap rope around their hands, and their panic only increased. Logan glanced in their direction, his eyes widening as he quickly flew over and pushed the first soldier off them, the sword just scraping against their neck. They summoned some poison in their hands to melt away the rope, then raised their hand to their neck, as blood began to seep out. 

"Patton, quick, heal Remus," Logan said, as he began to fight the two - no, three soldiers who had ganged up on Remus. 

Patton pushed an Ignebris soldier off them and hopped to their feet, rushing over to Remus and placing a hand on their neck. They closed their eyes and, after a moment, flowers began to appear on Remus' neck. The blood stopped pouring. Thank the gods for - _fuck_. There was another soldier behind Patton now, rising her sword over their head. 

Remus grabbed their mace, lying just next to them, and leapt around Patton, hitting the soldier to push her away. She fell to the floor with a groan, before getting back up and pointing her sword at Patton again. Patton thrusted their arm out, sending sharp petals in her direction which created tiny cuts all over her skin, sending her into a shock that caused her to stumble back. Remus jumped in with their mace again, hitting the soldier once before she fell to the ground, unconscious. 

Everything stopped. The sounds, the magic, the attacks. They had... The soldiers had gone. Had they defeated them all? 

Virgil came by their side, his shadow seeping back into his skin. "Scared the rest off, I think," he said. "Saw a bunch running back to Denemuis." 

Remus let out a relieved sigh. "Are we done, then?" 

Logan hummed, landing besides them. Remus tried not to notice his legs giving in for a brief second, before he lifted off the ground again. "We should get moving," he said. "We don't know when they'll be coming back, or if these ones will wake up." 

Patton shifted from side to side. "What about Declan? And Roman?" 

Logan glanced down. "We'll, uh, we'll just have to meet them in Lanamia. Remus, can you contact Roman, in any way?" 

Remus shrugged. "I can try. When I'm sleeping, maybe." They sometimes shared dreams with Roman, so they supposed they could try that night, see if they could talk to him. 

"Okay, good," Logan said. "Now, to Lanamia." He looked to the two sorcerers, both of whom looked rather uncomfortable with this whole thing. 

"We should head back to the base," Joan said. "Let them know of the new situation." 

"Ah," Logan said, "yes, I suppose you should." 

"Will you be okay with the rest of the journey?" the other sorcerer said. 

Logan nodded. "We can handle it. Thank you for your help, though." 

"It's alright," Joan said. "Good luck with everything." 

Logan smiled. "Thank you." 

The four of them watched the sorcerers walk in the other direction, back where they came from, before they continued their journey towards Lanamia. 

~*~ 

They'd been searching all day, and still hadn't found Declan. Remy had even recruited the help of his husband, Emile, who apparently owned the bar. They'd searched all throughout the city, and in the area around, and still hadn't found any sign of Declan. 

Roman sighed, sitting back in the bar, defeated. "They're gone." At any moment, he might have burst into tears, but he tried his best to compose himself. 

Emile rubbed his back, comfortingly. "I'm sure they haven't gone far. They can't have left Divitunia, right?" 

Roman breathed in. "They're fast," he said. "And they'll want to get out of Divitunia. They'll want to get as far away as possible." 

Emile hummed. "Did they say anything about where they may be going?" 

Roman fixed his eyes on the table. "We were heading to Lanamia. Maybe..." 

Emile stood up, taking Roman's hand and pulling him up with him. "Then let's head to Lanamia. Maybe they wanted a head start." 

"Yeah." Roman rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, I should probably say that they're actually on the run." He'd been talking to Emile all day, so he figured at this point he could trust him, and Remy, to know the truth. "From the Denemi. It's hard to explain. But, uh, they said they'd meet back up with me and the rest of our friends. I'm just... worried, about them." 

Emile hummed in thought. "If they said that they'd meet back up with you, why are you so worried?" 

Roman glanced down to the floor. "They... They'd never leave me. And now they have. We've been together for years, inseparable, and now they just..." 

After grasping the fact that Roman wasn't going to continue, Emile said, "Are you afraid they might have been hurt?" 

Roman blinked. "Yeah. I guess. They... The Denemi want them dead. For reasons that are too complicated to explain right now, but... there's so much going on in Divitunia right now, and now Denemuis have joined forces with Ignebris, and-" 

"Calm down," Emile said. "We'll find them, okay?" 

Roman took in several deep breaths. "Yeah. Okay." 

"Now-" 

The door swung open. Ignebris soldiers wandered in, heading straight towards Roman. One raised their fist, and then everything went dark.


	39. Chapter 39

Declan arrived at the first Lanamian village covered in burns and cuts and drenched in sweat. Their clothes were torn and burnt around the edges, and in general? They really weren't doing that well. 

Thank the gods this was Lanamia, though. As soon as they stepped into the inn in the middle of the village, about five fairies gathered around, asking what had happened. They weren't particularly in the mood to talk. And with no Roman around - or any of their other friends, for that matter - they didn't have anyone to hide behind, either. But they let the fairies heal them and sat down to rest, keeping their eyes locked on the doors. 

Perhaps it hadn't been such a great idea to run straight into the battlefield, through the fighting. They weren't sure if it was just the Ignebris soldiers or if any of the Divitunian soldiers had hurt them as well. Everything had been a blur of swords and fire. They'd stayed invisible for the most part, and hadn't dared to fight back, afraid that they'd give away their position. 

The Denemi hadn't followed them here, though, they were pretty sure. They'd seen some Denemi out on the battlefields, fighting amongst the soldiers sent from Ignebris, but they weren't the ones looking for them. If they were, they hadn't spotted Declan, at least. The others wouldn't find them here. Not in a small village in Lanamia. They'd never suspect that another Denemi would seek refuge in Lanamia. 

But the fairies working in the inn were starting to ask questions, and Declan just wanted them all to go away. To leave them alone, allow them a chance to think. Give them a chance to breathe. 

They'd abandoned everything. All their friends, their _boyfriend_ \- their whole life, whole world. All because they were _afraid_. Afraid of what might happen if their past caught up. They knew that if the Denemi caught them, they'd be dead. The Denemi wouldn't hesitate to kill them, and whilst they'd try to fight back, they would be outnumbered. Maybe with the help of the others they'd be able to take them down, but... well, they were alone now. No one to protect them. 

A drink had manifested in front of them - they didn't remember ordering that, but perhaps one of the fairies had brought it for him. Typical - Lanamians were too nice for their own good. They supposed that's where Patton got it from. Their sickeningly sweet nature - Declan could never live here, not a chance. 

Shelter was good, though. They'd be safe here. Even if the Denemi did find them, the fight would be stopped before it began. Lanamians didn't tolerate any abuse, any violence. Everything would turn out okay. And hopefully the others would find them here. Roman would be able to find them, they were sure of it. 

~*~ 

Patton ran ahead, a feeling of happiness and belonging rising in their chest. They were so, so close. They could feel it, in every bone and through their veins, smell, almost _taste_ the fresh air. Lanamia was close. Just a few more steps...

And they were home. They ran into a meadow, filled with flowers of all colours, and collapsed in the middle, reconnecting with their roots. More flowers grew all around them in a burst of yellow light, moving from the ground onto their own body, all over their skin and through their hair. They ran their fingers through the grass, giggling like a child, like they used to when they were small. Spirits danced in front of their eyes, after rising up from the flowers and floating in the air above them, spinning around to the music of the wild. 

Virgil came besides them and sat down, smiling fondly. "You seem happy." 

Patton grinned. "Can you _feel_ it?" they said, to which they received a raised eyebrow from Virgil. "There's _magic_ all around." They sat up and held out their hand, allowing one of the sprites to land on their palm. "Look! It's a flower spirit." 

Virgil's eyes widened as he looked at it, his smile growing. The spirit was very similar to the ones back in Aquantur, with the same basic body structure and paper-thin wings, but this one had pink skin and long, flowing purple hair, wearing a dress stylised like the flower it came from, a pink pansy with white and black lines in the centre. It sat down on Patton's hand, dress spreading out over their arm, and looking up into their eyes. Patton smiled at it. 

"C'mon," Logan said, finally arriving next to them. "We need to get moving." 

Patton pouted, but allowed the sprite to fly off their hand before they stood up, a couple flowers falling off their body and back to the ground but most staying stuck on their skin. The group began to move through Lanamia, now allowing Patton to lead the way - they knew Lanamia like the back of their hand, and, despite not having returned for a while, knew exactly how to get around, exactly where everything was. They could sense it, almost. And besides, if they were about to get lost, a sprite would sometimes come and whisper in their ear, to show them the way. 

"Do you think Declan's here yet?" Virgil wondered. 

Logan hummed. "I'd imagine so. I'd assume they'd want to get out of Divitunia as soon as possible. Besides, they said they would meet us here." He turned to Remus. "Can you-" 

"Declan's here," Remus said, with absolute certainty. "My... connection to Roman is a little fuzzy, but I think Declan's trying to send a message to us." 

"What are they saying?" Logan asked. 

Remus hummed. "They're safe. I think... They're in a village somewhere." 

Patton clapped their hands together. "Closest village is around a fifteen minute walk away," they said. "If they're not there, I can probably ask around." 

Logan smiled. "Lead the way." 

~*~

They still weren't here. Declan was beginning to worry that the soldiers had given them a little more trouble that they'd expected. What if one of them had gotten hurt? Or all of them? What if _Roman_ had been hurt? 

No. Roman was fine. They were certain of that. If anything _had_ happened to Roman, they would know. They'd be able to feel it when they thought about it - but right now, all they felt was peace, relief, so Roman must have been fine. He was on his way, Declan was sure of that. 

Growing tired of the people in the inn coddling them, Declan stepped outside, grateful for the warm afternoon sunlight on their skin. They walked a little way out of the village, down a path leading towards a small pond, where they sat down by the side of the water, looking down at their reflection. Gods, they were a mess - they knew that, of course, but actually _seeing_ how much of a mess they were hit them much harder. 

They scooped up some water in their hands and poured it over their skin, in an attempt to somewhat clean off the dirt and dried blood. It... kind of worked, but didn't make them look like any less of a mess. Either way, they stopped, deciding to lay back and look up at the clear sky. They allowed themself to close their eyes for a second - just a second, they told themself. But it wasn't long before they drifted off into a deep sleep. 

~*~ 

"You're sure that you haven't seen a Denemi pass by?" Virgil asked one of the Lanamians in the village, for what felt like the hundredth time. 

"Yes, I'm sure," the Lanamian repeated once again. "I'm sorry." 

Virgil sighed, but turned away, returning to the other three. "Any luck?" 

They all shook their heads. Great - this was the third village they'd tried, and they were no closer to finding Declan. The sun had begun to set, as well, and Virgil wasn't sure how safe it was in Lanamia right now - sure, it was peaceful, but it seemed like the entire continent was at war at this point, not just Silvales and Ignebris. 

"We should get some rest," Logan said. 

Patton frowned. "But we still haven't found Declan. And Lanamia is safe at night, we should be-" 

"Patton," Logan said, "we travelled all night and all day. Declan will still be here in the morning. Besides, Remus may be able to- Oh." 

Remus had collapsed onto the floor, fast asleep. 

~*~ 

Declan stared down at Remus' body, floating in a dark abyss. Huh. That didn't sound right. They lightly kicked her side with their foot, to which they received a groan from Remus. She sat up, rubbing her forehead. 

"What-" Her eyes widened as she looked up. "Oh! Dec! Did we find you alright?" 

Declan frowned. "No. I think we're dreaming." 

She hummed. "We're... Oh! Oh, yeah, I was gonna try to find you." She stood up. "Uh, where are you?" 

Declan blinked. "Uh, some village, close to the border. In the midlands, I think. Not sure what it's called." They glanced around - no one but Remus was there. "Where's Roman?" 

This wasn't the first time that they'd entered a dreamscape similar to this - it was apparently something the twins could do, for some reason that they'd never explained to them. Linked to their family, Declan was pretty sure - a way to contact each other. Somehow, Declan had been added to that link, presumably due to their relationship with Roman. But usually if Remus contacted them like this, she'd bring Roman along, or just Roman would contact them - they didn't even know that Remus _could_ contact them. 

"I thought he was with you?" Remus said, sounding a little uncertain. 

Declan blinked. "No? I ran away, remember?" 

"But- But Roman followed," Remus recalled. "Did he not catch up with-" 

"He did _what_?" Declan exclaimed. 

Remus stumbled back. "He... followed you," she repeated, quietly. 

That _idiot_. Gods - he wasn't supposed to follow them. He should have stayed with the group, where he was safe, or _at least_ brought Remus with him. Declan let out a low growl. "Why did you let him follow me?" 

"He- He just kinda left," Remus said. "Y'know, like you did." 

Declan grabbed Remus' hand. "Take me to him." 

"I-" 

"Just _do_ it." 

~*~ 

Patton poked Remus with a stick, humming in thought. "She didn't die, did she?" 

"No," Logan said, crouching down at her head and placing a cold, damp cloth on her forehead. "She's alive. Just in a state of deep sleep." 

Patton looked up at him. "Is she doing that thing again? The thing she did back in Therba?" 

"Perhaps." Logan stood up. "She's probably trying to find Roman. Or maybe Roman found her and is sending her a message." 

Patton poked her again, and she sat up, gasping for air. Surprised, Patton jumped back, dropping their stick. 

Remus grabbed Logan's hand, pulling him down towards him. "Roman's in trouble."


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: kidnapping

Roman groaned, his head hurting like hell. The sun shone in his eyes, blinding him and definitely not helping with the headache. He tried to raise his hand up to his forehead to soothe it, but... 

Why couldn't he move his hands? His arms were wrapped behind his back for some reason, and he couldn't seem to move them either. Not to mention the fact that his wrists were exceedingly uncomfortable right now, most likely because he... slept on them? No, that didn't sound right. So- 

Oh. That was rope. Same texture as rope, at least. Why would there be rope around his wrists? Unless... 

He opened his eyes wide, immediately sent into panic as he remembered the events of before he fell asleep. No, not fell asleep - before he was _knocked unconscious_. Shit. Had- Had he been kidnapped? 

Emile and Remy were sat in the cart as well, both tied up very much like Roman. Remy was unconscious still, or maybe just sleeping, but Emile was wide awake, and seemed.. resigned? He was just... letting it happen. Letting the three of them be carried away by the enemies, taking them to their certain deaths. Roman stared at him, trying to get his attention. Eventually, Emile glanced over, eyes widening. 

"What-" 

" _Shh_ ," Emile whispered. He gestured behind Roman with his head, towards an Ignebris soldier driving the cart through Divitunia. No - Therba now. Gods, they were back in _Therba_. How long had Roman been unconscious for? 

Realising that Emile probably wouldn't be much help, Roman began to plan his own escape route. The cart didn't have a roof, but Roman imagined there'd be some sort of magic holding them inside, or hiding them from the outside world. There weren't any guards other than the one driving the cart, unless there were more in the surrounding area - in which case, Roman would be fucked as soon as he escaped. But then again, he'd be fucked if he stayed here anyway - if he was gonna die, he might as well die fighting. 

He tried to summon a small flame in his hands in an attempt to burn the rope, but... it didn't seem to be working. That confused him, until he remembered that they were back in _Therba_. Of all the places to be, why _fucking_ Therba? He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down and concentrate. He tried to draw as much magic from the surroundings as he could, hoping that if he concentrated hard enough he'd be able to produce even the smallest of flames. But of course, magic was limited - especially in the middle of the countryside, with less people and less sources around. 

Emile stretched his leg out, connecting his foot with Roman's. Roman frowned, but Emile just gestured again with his head, towards Roman this time. His hands were started to get warm - heat increasing the longer Emile stared at him. And eventually, the rope broke, crumbling to ashes behind him. Roman let out a sigh of relief, bring his hands round in front of him and rubbing at his wrists. He ignored the burn marks now on his hands and arms, figuring they'd go away soon anyway, and instead shuffled towards Emile and Remy, going to untie each of them. 

They were entering Ignebris now. Roman could feel it, in the increased magic and heat around him, glowing embers beginning to surround his body, the feeling of dread settling in his stomach. He began to creep towards the back of the cart, motioning for Emile and a very sleepy Remy, only just woken up, to follow him. And then the cart stopped. _Fuck_ \- had they been caught? 

The door swung upon, and Roman held his breath, freezing as he noticed who was on the other side. A Dragon Witch. Perfect, _just_ perfect. 

"Ah, trying to run, are we?" the Dragon Witch said, stepping up into the cart and grabbing Roman's arm, pulling him up to his feet. Roman tried to remain still, tried to remain calm, but still found himself shaking. Gods, he shouldn't be scared right now - he'd taken on Dragon Witches before, and had yet to lose a fight to any of them. But he'd never been this close. He'd never had a Dragon Witch's talons sinking into his skin. And he'd never faced one alone - he always had the others to protect him. He always had _Declan_ to protect him. 

Emile and Remy had backed away, further into the cart - well, they were useful. Roman had no backup, did he? He didn't... He didn't even have his sword. Where was his sword? 

"I'm afraid we can't let you go, dearie," the Dragon Witch said, gripping Roman's arm tighter. "You're much too valuable to us." 

She threw Roman to the side, groaning as he crashed against the floor of the cart, and created a fire burning around him, cornering him as she drifted over to Remy and Emile. 

"You two, however, aren't of any use to us," she said, summoning a flame in her hand as they cowered beneath them. 

"Stop!" Roman shouted. "Don't hurt them, they did nothing!" 

The Dragon Witch sighed. "Prince Roman-" At the sound of Roman's title, both Emile and Remy turned to look at him, confused. "-you have no say in what we do to our prisoners. Besides, these are _witnesses_ , and we can't have that, can we?" 

Roman tried to stand up, but the Dragon Witch just thrust out of other hand, sending a burst of heat towards him and pushing him back to the ground. Meanwhile, the flame grew closer and closer to Remy and Emile. Anger bubbling up inside him, Roman tried again to rise, pushing against the hot air surrounding him, and made his way over to the Dragon Witch. He walked straight through the flames, covering him in soot but not leaving a single burn mark, and summoned a flame of his own, holding it close to the Dragon Witch's back. 

She spun around, the flame just scraping against Remy's cheek and leaving a burn mark before it disappeared into the air around them. Remy raised his hand to his cheek, cringing in pain. Roman stood his ground, pretending that the malicious look in her eyes didn't scare him at all. Not one bit. He was _fine_. He could do this. 

He reached down to unsheathe his sword, but inwardly groaned as he remembered that _apparently_ he didn't have his sword anymore. Great. Just great. Maybe he should have thought about this a little more before jumping straight into conflict. 

Well, guess he'd just have to make do with fire. He summoned another flame in his other hand and raised that as well, planning on combined them until he realised that that wasn't a flame at all - well, it was, but it wasn't a ball of flames, it was... 

A sword. He'd made a sword. How had he- 

This was Ignebris. Essentially a giant volcano, fire everywhere, fire _magic_ everywhere. His powers were growing stronger, even stronger than they were back in Silvales, right back at the source. And that didn't make much sense, because Roman's powers were meant to be strongest back home, that's how everything _worked_ , right? But he tried not to think about that. Because he had just made a _sword_ , and that was _exactly_ what he needed. 

He swung his sword around, managing to catch the Dragon Witch by surprise and hit her side, causing her to double over in pain. There wasn't any blood that came out, but it had left a pretty nasty burn, steam escaping from the wound. He ignored the looks of fear from Remy and Emile behind her, instead releasing the fire from his other hand and moving around the Dragon Witch, offering a hand to Emile. 

"C'mon, we have to go, _now-_ " 

Emile tentatively took his hand and Roman pulled him up, as Emile also pulled Remy up. But the Dragon Witch had soon recovered, extending her wings to block the three of them. 

"You're not going anywhere, Prince Roman," she said, stepping towards him. 

"You never told us you were a prince," Emile whispered, leaning over towards Roman whilst grilling his hand tight. 

"It didn't seem important," he whispered back, before raising his sword again and facing the Dragon Witch. "If you take another step closer, I'll impale you." 

The Dragon Witch just smiled, before zooming over towards them and grabbing Remy and Emile, holding them both in a clutch in either arm, her talons digging into their necks. Roman's eyes widened as he stepped back, trying not to freak out upon seeing the sudden fear on his friends faces. 

"Take one step closer," the Dragon Witch said, "and I'll kill both them. Unless you want to give in, in which case I'll let _them_ go." 

Roman pointed his sword towards the Dragon Witch, but couldn't help but notice his arm shaking. She seemed to notice, as well, given the smug grin on her face. 

"Let them go," Roman ordered, his voice hoarse. 

She dug her talons deeper into their skin. Roman breathed in and out. 

"Fine," he said, dropping his sword to the floor. Before it reached the floor, however, it dissipated into the surroundings, the magic soaring up into the atmosphere. "Take me. Do whatever you want to me. But let them go." 

She let go of Remy and Emile, and Roman watched as they fell to the floor. He stared at them desperately, trying to send them a silent message to get out of here. They seemed to understand - the husbands scrambled to their feet and ran out of the cart, heading back towards Therba. Roman breathed in, and turned back to the Dragon Witch. He could continue to fight - he _should_ continue to fight, but... 

He sat down, shuffling back towards the walls of the cart and leaning back, glancing up at the smog filled sky. He supposed there wasn't much use in fighting. If he stayed a little longer, maybe the Dragon Witch would spare his life, but if he tried to fight again she wouldn't hesitate to kill him. He just... hoped that he could find a way to escape. Or hoped that the others would find him, save him. 

The Dragon Witch left the cart, and it started moving again. Roman closed his eyes. He supposed a little sleep wouldn't hurt. It wasn't as if he had anything else to do. 

_"Roman," a soft voice said, sitting besides him. Roman glanced over, eyes widening as he saw Declan leaning over his body, tears in his eyes. "Roman, are you-"_

_"Declan," Roman breathed out. "Oh, Declan, thank the gods-"_

_"Where are you, Roman?" another voice said. Roman turned his head, noticing Remus stood in front of him, her arms crossed._

_Roman blinked. "Uh, I'm-" He frowned. "Oh. You're not actually here, are you?" He was dreaming - of course he was. Remus must have entered his dreamscape again. It always annoyed Roman when she did that. At least she'd brought Declan with her, though._

_"Where are you?" Remus repeated._

_"I'm, uh, in Ignebris," he said._

_Declan's eyes widened. "You're what?"_

_Roman bit his lip. "Uh, I may have been kidnapped." Before Declan had the chance to shout, he quickly added, "But! I've got it under control. I even saved the two other hostages. I think."_

_"Roman," Declan said, speaking calmly despite the clear anger in their eyes, "who has you?"_

_"One of the Dragon Witches," Roman said. "But don't worry! I'm fine, she hasn't hurt me that bad."_

_"I'm coming," Declan said, standing up. "Wait exactly where you are. This is my fault, I'll-"_

_"It's not your fault, Declan," Roman said, attempting to stand up but failing to do so - stupid dreamscape, not letting him do anything. "I'm the one who got kidnapped."_

_"Because I ran away," Declan said. "I-"_

_"It's okay, Declan," Roman promised. "I'll be fine."_

_"I should be protecting you," Declan argued. "Not..."_

_"Declan-"_

_"I'm coming. I'll save you."_


	41. Chapter 41

The four sat in an uncomfortable silence around a table in the inn. Remus had explained that Declan wouldn't be joining them - instead, they were heading over to Ignebris to rescue Roman, whilst the other four would continue their journey to Caetus to retrieve the cure for the Silvalan King. 

Remus had to admit that she felt a little... weird, about all of that. It didn't seem right for her to just abandon Roman. She should be _helping_ to get him back. But, at the same time, she knew that Declan would have it under control. It was Declan's job, anyway. Declan's job to protect him. And Remus needed to stay away from Ignebris anyway - whilst she was certainly less desirable than Roman, only being second in line, she was still a princess, and still a valuable member of the Silvalan royal family. 

"Patton," Logan finally said, breaking the silence, "how long until we reach Caetus?" 

Patton blinked. "Uh... Just a couple days, I think," they said. "If we pass by Willao Village then through the Dyra Meadow, it should bring us straight up to the Caetus border." 

"Perfect," Logan said, then frowned. "Uh, Willao Village? Isn't there closer villages to Dyra, though? 

"It's my hometown," Patton said. "I, uh, was kinda hoping-" 

"Patton, we don't have time-" 

"Nah, we should go," Virgil said. "I kinda wanna meet Patton's family, not gonna lie." 

"But-" 

"It won't take much longer!" Patton promised. "Besides, uh, it'll probably take us all of tomorrow to reach it, so then we can rest there overnight. Dyra Meadows is a little..." They trailed off. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Is it dangerous?" 

"No!" They glanced to the side. "Well, uh, yeah, kinda. It's close to the Caetus border, so there tends to be more... chaos, around that area. Magic from Lanamia mixing in with magic from Caetus. We get... all sorts of spirits around there. Which is fine for a Lanamian like me! We deal with spirits almost every day. But, uh, for you guys..." 

"We'll need protection," Logan guessed, "and your family can provide that?" 

"Yeah," Patton said. "My parents work out in the meadow, so... they know how to handle it. They may be able to cast some magic on you so that the spirits will _mostly_ leave you alone."

"Mostly?" Virgil repeated. 

"Well, we can't _guarantee_ that they will," Patton admitted. "But we can do our best. And if the spirits _do_ get to you, we should be able to fight them off.” 

After a moment of silence, during which Remus almost found herself almost falling asleep, Virgil spoke up again. "Wait, why can't we just go _around_ Dyra?" 

"I mean, either way we're close to the Caetus border," Patton said. "And Dyra _is_ the quickest route. Otherwise we'd have to go through the Great Forest, and, uh... that could take a while." 

"Okay," Virgil said, leaning back. "So, plan for Caetus?" 

"We'll think of that when we get there," Logan said. "There aren't many records of Caetus, and of course none of us have ever been there - I assume none of us have, at least." 

"Actually," Patton said, "I... may have been there. Once." 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?" 

Patton hummed. "I was young, so... not entirely sure what happened. But I remember going through Dyra and entering this... weird place, where everything was darker and all the plants were dying and, uh.... yeah, it wasn't fun." 

Logan blinked. "I... read that Caetus is actually a rather beautiful place." 

"Declan said it was dangerous, didn't they?" Remus recalled. 

"It _is_ dangerous," Logan said. "The residents there live outside the laws of our continent, and the landscape itself can be hell to navigate. But every single account I've read about the mountain leads me to believe that it's a rather beautiful place, certainly not... barren, like Patton was describing." 

The table fell into another silence. 

Remus stood up. "Well. I'm going to bed." 

Logan frowned. "But we haven't finished-" 

"I'm going to sleep too," Virgil said, also standing up. "We need rest, Logan, okay? We can figure things out when we get there, like you said." 

Logan nodded. "Yes, I suppose your right." 

~*~ 

Declan ran through the battlefields of Divitunia, once again ignoring the fighting going on around them. They didn't have time to be concerned about their own injuries right now, not when the Prince could be suffering from his own injuries, not when _all_ of this was their fault in the first place. 

If they had just... _stayed_ with Roman, everything would be fine. If they hadn't run off like a coward, they would be right by Roman's side. He wouldn't have been kidnapped, and they'd all be on their way to Caetus, like they'd planned. Or, worse case scenario, Declan would have been taken by the Denemi, and Roman would still be safe in the hands of the others. If... If Declan had stayed for the fight, everything would have been okay. 

But no. They ran off. They had a good reason to run off, they supposed, but... 

They shook that thought away. They didn't have _time_ to be thinking about all of this right now. They needed to get to Roman. It would take a while to reach Ignebris again, and possibly a while to actually _find_ Roman, but they wouldn't rest until they did. They _refused_ to rest until they knew that the Prince was safe.

~*~ 

The four had set off early in the morning, as the sun rose over the meadows of Lanamia and shone on their skin, a feeling of peace in the air around them. Patton... was feeling good. They were back home, they were going back to their _actual_ home, and things would be okay. Sure, other things weren't going too great, things that they preferred not to think about, but things would be fine. They believed that everything _would_ turn out just fine. 

And this was Lanamia! Flowers grew all over, spirits danced in the air around them, the sky above them was the bluest of blues and completely clear. Patton couldn't help but smile, despite all the... not so great things, going on the wider world, and with their own friends. 

Lanamia always had this affect, though. It was so full of magic that it was difficult to not feel happy whilst wandering around its fields. Occasionally Patton would see other groups of people wandering around as well, children playing or couples exploring, friendly faces every single time. Patton waved at each and every one of them, and most recognised them to be one of their own. Gosh, it was great to be back. 

"So, uh, your family," Virgil said, "what are they like?" 

Patton grinned. "Oh, they're great! I mean, everyone here is pretty great, honestly. But yeah, my family's nice, they're healers as well, work in emergency rescue services-" 

"They what?" 

Patton blinked. "Oh. Y'know. Dyra and stuff. People get stuck there from time to time, or hurt by the spirits, so my mothers help with getting them out and healing them and everything." 

"Mothers, plural?" Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Yup," Patton said, not really feeling the need to elaborate any further. "And I don't have any siblings, so it's just me and them. Plus the others in the village, I guess - they're all wonderful, as well." 

Virgil hummed. "How come you joined the Academy?" 

Patton blinked. "Huh?" 

"I mean, you just seem really happy here," Virgil pointed out, "and your family sounds great, so... why move away?" 

Patton hummed. "Well, uh, I was invited to the Academy, for starters. Both my mothers attended the Academy as well, that's where they met. They wanted me to go as well, give me some space away from them, y'know?" 

Virgil glanced down. "Yeah. That makes sense." 

"I do love it here, though," Patton said, although they were pretty sure everyone knew that already. "Couldn't imagine living anywhere else." 

They thought back to their time spent here as a child, learning magic and messing around, running through Dyra Meadow. It wasn't rare for them to explore Dyra in the afternoons, wading their way through the flowers to speak with the spirits, to feel the breeze brush against their cheeks and through their hair. They'd summon petals and let them dance in the wind, swirling amongst the spirits and spreading their colours throughout the world. 

There was one afternoon they remembered vividly, a late summer afternoon, the sun casting a warm glow onto their skin. This was a couple months before the Academy. Their mothers were beginning to get busier, with more children and teenagers taking their final opportunities to explore the fields before the autumn, when many would have to help their parents more with the harvest, or when some had to travel to different Kingdoms for educational purposes. So Patton was mostly left to explore on their own - which was fine, they loved exploring, and they were smart enough to not get themself hurt. 

Or. Well. Almost. 

They'd gotten a little too close to the border, on that afternoon, and... well, they were sure that their mothers had told them _plenty_ of times to not venture out _too_ far, and of course they'd already had tons of protective spells cast on them as to protect them as much as possible, but Patton was... reckless, back then. They never thought that anything _bad_ could happen to them, because nothing particularly bad had happened before, so why would things turn bad now? 

So yeah. Maybe they hadn't listened to their mothers warnings. They really should've, thinking back, and... 

They hadn't _meant_ to hurt anybody. They were just playing - well, they _thought_ they were playing, with one of the wind spirits who'd made its way down from Caetus. It had been swirling around like crazy, a mini tornado of sorts, Patton supposed, and they'd thought that it was just dancing, like all the flower spirits that Patton had previously encountered. Except, this one was bigger, and wasn't talking to Patton like the other ones were. Maybe they should've taken that as a warning sign. But they didn't. 

It got more aggressive, began to shoot things towards Patton, twigs or pebbles, anything it could pick up in the surrounding area. And Patton had thought, oh, it must be a game, right? So they began to shoot at it, as well. They aimed their petals towards the spirit and made them fly towards it. They hadn't thought that the petals may _harm_ anyone. Even if the twigs and pebbles were beginning to harm them, cuts and bruises appearing on their skin, which... stung, a little, but they tried not to think about that. 

But then there was other people as well. The spirit was growing more and more aggravated - at the time, Patton had thought it was growing more and more _excited_ \- and it had left, dissipated into the surroundings. But Patton was still playing, still shooting those petals, and there were other people around, people who knew them and who _trusted_ them, and maybe things had gotten a little out of hand, and _maybe_ there had been a little blood, and maybe someone had... 

Patton bit their lip. They didn't want to remember that. They pushed their thoughts down, trying to forget the memory, trying to forget that they'd ever hurt anybody, forget that they'd hurt people who they _loved_. 

It was always awkward, returning home. Because, yeah, most people were happy with their presence, _most_ people didn't even know about that day. But there _had_ been some people who had seen, people who'd seen just how much Patton had seemed to... _enjoy_ what they were doing to the wind spirit, enjoy _torturing_ the poor, innocent spirit. And they hadn't seen the regret in their eyes when they realised what they'd done, or the fear when they realised that had extended to others, but they'd still seen what had happened. And maybe, just maybe, they were a little... afraid, of what Patton could do. 

"Uh, you okay, buddy?" Virgil said, nudging Patton's shoulder. 

Patton cleared their throat and plastered on a smile. "Yeah, of course!" 

Virgil didn't look as though he believed them, but didn't dig any further.


	42. Chapter 42

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: illness, hospitals, imprisonment

They reached a village around noon, where Logan insisted that they took a short rest, grabbed some lunch. They sat in the centre of the village, eating in silence, when Logan noticed a familiar face out the corner of his eye. Said familiar face seemed to recognise him, too, and came running over. 

"Hey, I know you guys, right?" he said, smiling a little. 

"Felix," Logan breathed. He was- He looked so much better than the last time Logan had seen him. Full of life, full of _magic_. Everything that had been drained had... come back. 

Felix grinned. "Yeah! And you're, uh..." He rubbed his forehead. 

"Logan." 

"Logan!" Felix clicked his fingers. "That's it! You guys helped take down that sea serpent!" 

Logan bowed his head. "Indeed, we did. You're looking better." 

"Yeah." Felix chuckled. "The Lanamians are _great_. My, uh, my magic isn't much better, actually seems to have gotten a little worse, but, uh... I'm alive!" 

Logan hummed. "I'm glad to hear that. Are you living here now?" 

"I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm kinda... done, with the whole _war_ thing. A few of us have already moved back to Aquantur, some are still healing, but... quite a lot of us have stayed, actually. Don't particularly want to be part of a war if something like _that_ may happen. It's safer here, anyway." 

Huh. Logan had never considered that they could just.... walk away, from all of this. There was _no reason_ for him to even be getting caught up in the war - Nochae wasn't even allies with either of the Kingdoms involved in the war, the only reason _he_ was fighting was because of the Academy. At least Roman, Remus and Declan had an actual reason to be fighting, coming from Silvales, but... 

Logan could be at the Academy right now, studying properly, or even back in _Nochae_ , doing field work, researching what he was _really_ interested in. But no, he was fighting a war that wasn't even his. Felix had a point. 

"Where's Roman?" Felix asked, tilting his head to the side. 

Logan glanced down. "Oh. Uh. He's a little preoccupied, right now." 

"The idiot managed to get himself kidnapped," Remus butted in. 

Logan sighed. "Yes. He's somewhere in Ignebris right now, I believe. Declan is on their way to retrieve him now." 

Felix seemed alarmed by all of that. "Why aren't you going to save him?" 

"We have other matters to attend to right now," Logan said, pushing his glasses up his nose. 

Felix raised an eyebrow. "You do?" 

"It's classified," Logan said, almost out of habit now. He supposed their _current_ mission wasn't exactly classified, since they were kinda on their own now, not attending to any Academy business, but he wasn't sure how much was known on the Silvalan King's condition, and didn't want anything to get out. 

"Can I come with you?" Felix asked. 

Logan frowned. "No? Like I said, it's classified?" 

Felix seemed disappointed. 

"How's everyone else doing?" Patton asked. Logan let out a sigh of relief, thankful that Patton was changing the conversation. He didn't want to risk Felix getting even more hurt. 

"Oh, well, some have recovered," Felix said, shifting from side to side. "There's... still a lot really ill. Uh... come see, if you want." 

Logan glanced around at the rest of the group, then stood up, motioning for his friends to follow Felix along with him. The group made their way into an infirmary on the edge of the village, where beds upon beds of injured Aquantians were stationed, some sat up, some laid down but awake, some fully unconscious. 

The Lanamians tending to the Aquantians all looked up, squinting curiously at the group. No, at _Patton_. Logan glanced at them, and watched them step forward. 

"You're not from the village, are you?" one asked, stepping towards Patton. 

"Uh, no, I'm from Willao Village," they said. "My name's Patton." 

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, are you Petunia's kid?" 

Patton smiled. "The very same!" 

"Brilliant, maybe you can help."

Patton blinked. "I, uh..." 

"You're a healer, aren't you?" 

"Well, yeah, but I focus more on physical injuries, and, uh..." They glanced back at the group, and Logan locked eye contact with them, frowning a little in confusion, before they turned their head back toward the Lanamian nurse. "I'm not exactly my mother." 

"C'mon, you can do it!" the Lanamian said anyway, ushering Patton forward. 

Patton ended up besides one of the beds, and Logan watched curiously as they put their hand on the patients forehead, a blue glow arising from their fingertips. Logan recalled that Patton hadn't been able to heal Felix back in Aquantur, so he wasn't sure why they'd be able to heal this patient now - if the injury truly wasn't physical, then they wouldn't stand a chance. 

But that begged the question - _could_ they heal non-physical injuries? Logan supposed it wasn't entirely improbable. For example, magic could be used to lift curses, and what were curses if not magical injuries? Patton, however, had never attempted to heal something like this before - they stuck with cuts or broken bones. But then again, that Lanamian had thought that Patton could _heal_ the patients. 

Maybe their parents could? As soon as the Lanamian realised that Patton was the child of Petunia - presumably their mother - she had perked up, so... huh. 

Thinking about it, Logan didn't really know anything about Patton's family. They never really talked much about themself - just that they'd grown up in a village in north Lanamia, that they came from a family of healers, and that their family members were generally good people. Logan had never stopped to think about Patton's past, but maybe he should have. Like, he knew that there was some things that Patton didn't like to talk about, which was sometimes weird considering how open Patton tended to be with their feelings. And he knew _some_ things that had happened to Patton in the past, some of the injuries he'd faced - physical, mostly, but Logan had no doubts that some were emotional as well - and about how awful they felt that they were unable to fix it. Unable to fix themself, like they'd fix any other person. 

Patton drew their hand away from the patients. "I'm sorry," they said, quietly. "I can't." 

The nurse frowned. "But you-" 

"I'm not my mother," Patton repeated. "If she was here, I'm sure she'd be able to do _something_ , but... I'm just a regular healer. This is way beyond my magic range." 

The nurse didn't seem to know how to respond to that. 

"If I may," Logan said, floating forward, "I don't think it's fair for you to be putting all of this on Patton here." The nurse looked at him, seeming as though she was unsure what to make of him. "I was there when this disastrous event happened, and, in my personal opinion, this isn't something that can be so easily healed. These people have lost their magic source, which is why they are suffering like this, and I believe the only way to really solve this issue is to either get the source back - unlikely, since Tahlia Falls is completely gone - or to attach them to a new source, which is what I assume you have done with those who have healed. Therefore, it's safe to assume that Patton will be unable to successfully heal these people, no matter how much you want them to." 

There was silence in the room for a moment, before Patton gave Logan a small smile. "Thanks, but, uh, _technically_ they _could_ be healed, just, uh, not by me. One of my mothers, maybe, but... not me." 

Logan hummed. "Alright. In that case, I apologise." He glanced down at the unconscious patients lying on the bed. "Perhaps we should find your mothers, then." 

"We tried to contact them," the nurse said. "They're both preoccupied, right now." 

"Ah." Logan fiddled with his fingers. "Well, we are heading over that way anyway, so maybe we can leave them a message." 

"Preoccupied?" Patton repeated. 

"Yes," the nurse said. "Did you not hear about the trouble in Dyra Meadows?" 

Patton blinked. "No, actually, I didn't." 

"Oh. Well, it's... not doing brilliant, right now. I don't know much of the details. I thought your mothers might have told you. They've been working very hard to help fight back against Caetus." 

"Against Caetus?" Logan echoed, with a frown. That was where they were heading, and... if there was trouble in Caetus, that would prove to be difficult for all of them. As far as Logan knew, though, Caetus remained to be fully neutral, and pretty much isolated from the rest of the continent. 

"I'm probably not the best person to talk to about this," the nurse said, "but if I were you I'd stay away from there." 

"Actually," Logan muttered, "that's _exactly_ where we were heading next..." He turned to Patton. "Perhaps we should reconsider-" But they were already gone. 

~*~ 

When Roman opened his eyes next, he was sat in a cage, once again tied up with rope, only this time he was completely alone. It didn't take him long to get adjusted to his surroundings - he must have been deep in Ignebris by now, judging by the smell of smoke and the embers floating around. He could have sworn some of those embers were living, tiny fairies or something dancing in the air around him, but that didn't make much sense. 

He could hear banging in the building around him, and people's voices shouting in the distance. He couldn't _quite_ make out what they were saying, but recognised one of the voices as the Dragon Witch he'd talked to before. The Dragon Witch who now had him prisoner. _Prisoner_. 

This was bad, he was beginning to realise. Especially with everything going on in Silvales. With the King fallen ill, it would be a lot easier to negotiate with them, trick them into giving everything up to save Roman, but... that would do them no good, would it? Roman would be used as bait, or as payment, and either way Ignebris would just end up killing him. They wouldn't want him sticking around, they needed Silvales to fall. 

Roman had to get out of here. Sure, he knew that Declan was on their way, but... he couldn't be waiting around for them, not when he knew he could be killed at any moment, they could be killed at any moment. 

He tried to summon a fire in his hands again, to burn the rope, but he failed. Huh. That... was strange. 

Whatever. He had to try _something._ There wasn't any rope around his legs, so he instead attempted to stand up, only getting as far as kneeling before he collapsed again, a pain soaring through his head as his face landed on the floor. He groaned. This wasn't working, was it? 

He heard a click, then footsteps, and then somebody's fingernails dug into his shoulder, pulling him up. He glanced up, noticing that the Dragon Witch had returned. Oh. Joy. 

"Not trying to escape, are we?" she said, crouching down so she was eye level with Roman. He stared at her, not willing to reply, but half tempted to jerk forward and push her to the ground. He held himself back, though, afraid of what might happen if he lashed out. "Not much of a talker either, huh." 

She stood back up, towering over Roman. Roman locked his eyes on the floor, trying not to aggravate her. Maybe if he ignored her presence and refused to play her game, she would leave him alone to plan his escape in peace. 

And she did. Thank the gods. Roman was alone again, but... well, it didn't look as though he'd be able to escape any time soon. He continued to stare at the floor, following the cracks around the room with his eyes. 

He hoped that Declan would come soon. 


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: talk of minor character death

Virgil watched Patton leave the infirmary and followed them out, stalking behind them until they reached the meadow behind the village. He wasn't entirely sure what had gone on in the infirmary, but it had clearly upset Patton, considering the fact that they were now sat with their head in their knees, their shoulders shaking. 

He slowly approached Patton and sat down, picking up a flower off the ground and turning it around in his hands. Patton didn't seem to notice his presence - or, if they did, they didn't acknowledge it. It pained Virgil to see Patton this way - they were usually so happy, so smiley, but... well, if Patton was upset then they were upset. There wasn't much that Virgil could do about that, except just _be there_ for them. 

After a few minutes of just sitting in silence, Patton breathed in and glanced over at Virgil. "I'm sorry." 

Virgil blinked. "What do you have to be sorry for?" 

"For... For everything," Patton said, unwrapping their arms and falling back to the ground, staring up at the sky. "I'm not... I can't help." 

"That's not your fault, Patton," Virgil said, twisting his body so he was facing Patton. He couldn't help but notice the tears staining their face. 

"I should be _better._ " 

"Patton, buddy, that isn't fair," Virgil said. 

"If my _parents_ were here _they'd_ be able to help, so why can't I?" 

Virgil scooped up Patton's hand and rubbed his palm gently, in a soothing, circular motion. "You aren't your parents, Patton. We're going to them now anyway, right? So we could tell them about it." 

Patton sighed. "That's another thing! They've... They've been fighting in Dyra and _didn't tell me_." 

"Are they okay?" Virgil asked, turning his body again and lying down next to Patton, feeling a little uncomfortable as the grass tickled his skin but deciding it was worth it to make sure Patton was okay. 

"I don't know," Patton said, their eyes fixed on the cloudy sky above. "They... probably are. But I didn't even know there _was_ trouble in Dyra. They could have at least... told me." 

"Maybe they tried to," Virgil suggested. "You've been at the Academy this whole time, and then on the road for a while." 

Patton was silent for a moment. "Yeah. I guess." 

Virgil squeezed Patton's hand. "Everything will be okay, yeah? We're going to see them, anyway." 

The tips of Patton's lips lifted up. "Yeah. I miss them." 

"I get it." 

Patton blinked. "You... don't, though. You hate your family." 

Virgil cringed. "I..." He breathed in, trying to pretend that that statement didn't hurt. "I miss my mother, I mean. She was... She was always good." 

"Is she not good anymore?" 

"She's dead." 

Another silence. 

"Oh." 

"I found out when we were in Therba," Virgil continued. "Apparently the rest of my family didn't think to tell me. But she..." His hand reached up to his neck, before sinking down again upon remembering that his mother's necklace was no longer there. 

"I'm sorry, Virgil," Patton said, softly. 

"It's alright," Virgil said. "I mean, I hadn't seen her for years, anyway. And... well, at least I don't have a reason to return home anymore." 

"That... doesn't really sound like something to be happy about." 

"I know." Virgil sighed. "I just always thought that eventually I'd go back to her, but that would mean dealing with the rest of them too. Now there's nothing for me there, so... I don't know, guess I'm just happy that I can forge my own way, y'know?" 

Patton smiled. "Yeah. You wanna move here, right?" 

"I guess I do." Virgil turned his head to face Patton, and Patton did the same. "You think your parents would adopt me?"

Patton giggled. "They don't have to _adopt_ you. You can live with me anyway, if you want. I mean, I'd certainly like to live with you."

Virgil frowned. That... He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. He felt the same way, pretty much, but... God, he was beginning to think that... no. No, he... 

Patton's eyes widened. "I mean, uh, platonically, of course." 

That didn't sit right with Virgil, either. In fact, he felt almost... disappointed. And confused, sort of, that Patton even had to clarify that. 

"I mean, unless you _want_ it to be more than platonic," Patton mumbled, now refusing to make eye contact. 

And Virgil still wasn't replying. Why wasn't he replying? 

Patton sat up and let go of Virgil's hands. "Sorry. That, uh, that was probably taking it a bit too far. I-" 

"No," Virgil finally said, sitting up as well. "I, uh, do you _want_ it to be more?" He didn't know why he was saying this. Did _he_ want it to be more? He... supposed he did, actually. Which was weird. But... Well, it _would_ make sense, now that he thought about it. Patton was... just about the only person he really trusted. The others were fine as well, he guessed, but Patton had been the first person other than his mother to show Virgil an ounce of respect, an ounce of kindness, and... 

"Maybe?" Patton said. "I... I don't know. I do like you. A lot." 

Virgil blushed. "Uh, I... like you too. Obviously. But, uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't... quite know how to explain this. He didn't quite understand his feelings himself. 

"Like, in the way that Roman likes Declan," Patton said. 

Virgil's eyes widened. Shit. That- That made sense, actually. 

But Patton seemed to take Virgil's look the wrong way. "I- I mean, I care about you, and stuff, and, like, if you _don't_ feel that way, that's fine, I-" 

"I do," Virgil breathed. "I do feel that way. I think." 

Patton relaxed. They moved closer to Virgil, nuzzling themself into Virgil's side, and Virgil repositioned himself so that he had his arm wrapped around Patton's shoulder, holding him tight. Yes. This was good. Patton was... good. 

~*~ 

He'd made it out of Divitunia, finally, and stopped for a moment in the Therban fields, just to catch his breath. It was almost nightfall, and Declan thought that he should maybe sleep soon, so as to not exhaust himself before whatever fight was to come. There would be fight, wouldn't there? It wasn't as if he could stroll into Ignebris, grab Roman, and stroll back out. It would never be that easy. 

But at the same time, he couldn't waste a moment. He had to get to Roman, and he had to get there quickly, before... before it was too late. Before something _bad_ happened to Roman. 

But if he ran anymore, he would collapse, so for a moment he allowed himself to sit down, by the base of a tree, and breathe. He was covered in cuts and bruises and dirt, and wasn't entirely sure where all of them had come from. He was just now beginning to feel the pain, the aches, now that he was thinking about it. Now that he gave himself the tiniest bit of time to think about himself. 

If he died, then there'd be nobody to save Roman. He couldn't allow himself to crash before reaching the Prince, so he sat for a while, much longer than intended, and treated his injuries, as best as he could. He got a quick wash in a river nearby, before finally continuing his journey, quickly picking up speed again. 

He stopped when he saw a couple running down the road - a couple from Divitunia, judging by the air of magic surrounding them. They looked frightened, alarmed, and... had burns all over them. Had they... 

"Hey," Declan said, trying to ignore the fear in their eyes when he suddenly appeared besides them. Oh, he must have been invisible before. Yeah, that made sense. "Have you seen any Ignebris soldiers around? In a carriage maybe?" 

The couple stayed close together, the taller one with an arm wrapped around the other. "Sorry, who are you?" he said, trying to appear calm. 

"It's my boyfriend, he was taken, I think that-" 

"Roman?" the other man asked. 

Declan blinked. "Uh, yeah, his name is Roman. Have you seen him?" 

The couple exchanged a glance. "He was looking for you. Back in Divitunia." 

Declan sighed. Yes, of _course_ Roman had gone to look for him. Had he told these people about him? Roman was the type to overshare, so Declan wouldn't put it past him. "Do you know where he is?" 

"He was taken," the shorter man said. "I... I don't know, he might have tried to escape." 

Declan growled. He pushed past the couple and continued walking towards Ignebris, before one of them grabbed his hand, pulling him back. 

"We can help you," he said. 

Declan shook his head. "No. Wouldn't want to put you in danger." 

"We were with him," the other said, coming up besides Declan. "We were taken, too. But they let us go. We know where he is." 

Declan considered them for a moment, not entirely sure what to do, but eventually gave in. "Alright, then. But if things start to get bad, you two run, alright?" 

~*~ 

Stars shimmered in the night sky as the four of them trekked over the Lanamian meadows, so close to Willao Village now. It wouldn't be long, Patton had promised them - just half an hour or so, maybe. 

Virgil hadn't talked to them much since their talk that afternoon, not entirely sure what to think of the two of them. What were they now? Were they together? Roman and Declan called each other boyfriends, so... partners, maybe? 

Family. That was a good word. Virgil liked that word. And... it summed them up pretty well, he thought. 

But he still didn't know what to make of it all. Before Patton, he hadn't even had a _friend_ , yet here he was now with something more. It was... strange, but nice. Exhilarating. Virgil couldn’t wait to see what would be in store for the two of them. Once they were both finished with the Academy, he imagined that they'd move here together, perhaps back to Patton's hometown. That is if they were still together at that point - knowing Virgil, he'd probably fuck up somehow and Patton would want nothing to do with him. He didn't want to get his hopes up. 

But, Virgil _had_ realised that when he was around Patton, his cloud was always a little smaller. Less aggressive. The cloud liked Patton - Patton had actually said that, back when they first met. And Virgil was more relaxed, around Patton. He didn't want to give this peace up. 

He could see Patton's village in the distance, and smiled a little as he saw Patton's eyes light up. 

"Almost home," Virgil said, quietly. 

Patton smiled. "Almost home."


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: talk of bullying

It was right there. Their cottage, on the outskirts of their village. The same flowers out front, the same patterns carved into the stone bricks, the same sign on the door - Patton's Place, written in beautiful calligraphy, his mother's handwriting. They'd named it after him, knowing that one day it would be Patton's place, their forever home, when the two of them eventually moved away or... moved on. They were just here to kickstart Patton's life, to care for them until they were ready to be released into the world. They... supposed that they already _had_ released them, what with sending them to the Academy and all, but... 

This was _home_. Patton could feel themself tearing up. It had been so long since they'd touched the wooden gate, stepped along the cobbled path, looked through the window to see if their mothers were watching, sighed when they realised that they weren't, that they were probably busy further in the house, or out in Dyra again. Once Patton was old enough to take care of themself, or at least be taken care of by the other villagers, they tended to spend more time away, more time at work, allowing Patton to entertain themself. 

They supposed it would never be the same as it was when they were a child. Which was fair enough - they weren't a child anymore, and didn't particularly want to be treated as one, but... well, sometimes they just wanted to be coddled by their mothers, held tight in their arms, be read stories to before they went to sleep, play with them until they ran out of energy and resorted to just watching as Patton continued to rule the world. 

"Are you okay, Patton?" Logan asked, coming up behind them. Their hand had been hovering over the doorknob for a while now. Oh. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," they said, making contact with the doorknob and opening the door. They breathed in, then stepped inside, quickly lighting the candle that was always left by the door before venturing further into the dark house. That didn't sit right with them - their mothers didn't usually go to bed this early, and were usually home by now as well. "Mum? Ma?" No replies. 

"I don't think anyone's home," Logan muttered. 

Patton hummed. They turned into the living room, lighting another candle to illuminate the room. It looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in a while, dust all over the shelves and the fireplaces - that was weird, dusting was one of his Ma's favourite hobbies - and blankets still left on the sofas. 

"You guys sit in here," Patton instructed. "I'll go look for them." 

The other three exchanged a concerned glance, which Patton decided to ignore. After watching them all sit down, Patton turned and left the room, heading deeper into the house. It hadn't changed a lot since they last visited, apart from getting a little smaller - or, well, they must have gotten a little taller. The last time they visited must have been last summer, only for a week or so due to some trouble across the continent that the Academy wanted them to help with. That happened far more than they'd like it to - sometimes they just wanted a summer to themself, with their family, away from the Academy and the war, but... well, they hadn't had that in a while. 

They turned into the kitchen and frowned upon seeing the piles of dirty dishes, stacked up in the sink and on the side. That never happened - their Ma was a clean freak, she'd never let dirty dishes pile up like that. They glanced at the table and noticed the last meal still sitting there, barely eaten, now cold. It was a pie, as well, his Mum's favourite. She'd never leave a pie uneaten, unless... 

No, his mothers were fine. There was trouble in Dyra, maybe they'd just been called in to help. Yeah, that made sense. Maybe they'd been called just as they had started dinner, and had... fallen asleep when they got back. Yeah. 

Patton left the kitchen and headed upstairs, stopping as they saw the door to their bedroom open. Huh. There was no reason for anyone to go into their room, and as far as they were aware it was usually closed if they weren't home, which they hadn't been for almost a year. 

They stepped inside, a small smile escaping their lips when they saw that it remained unchanged. Their bed was still not quite made, a couple books were still discarded on the floor, and their clothes were still in a neat pile in the corner of the room, waiting to be put away. The only sign of any life in this room was the flowers on the window still - they were still very much alive, so someone must have been inside to water them. One of their mothers must have done that - maybe that was why the door was open? 

They went over to the window and glanced outside, looking over the meadows beyond. The stars twinkled in the sky, a half moon illuminating the world below. Maybe their mothers were out there somewhere. Maybe they'd just have to wait for them to return. 

No, they must be in the house somewhere. Patton turned to leave again, but stopped upon seeing someone in the doorway. 

"Oh, hi Virgil," Patton said, breathing in. 

Virgil frowned. "Are you alright? You've been a while." 

"Yeah, I'm fine, still just... looking." They sat down on their bed, eyes falling to the wooden floor. 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don't think they're in here." 

"I know."

When Patton didn't say anything else, Virgil moved closer, sitting on the bed besides them. "Was this your room?" 

"It _is_ my room," Patton said. "I, uh, hadn't realised how much I missed being here, I guess." 

Virgil hummed. "Don't you come back for summer?" 

"I do, but... well, I try to." They sighed. "It's been a little difficult the past few years with the war and stuff. Sometimes... Sometimes I wish I never went to the Academy. Then I'd still be here, maybe I could help with whatever's happening in Dyra, maybe..." 

They stiffened their shoulders as they felt Virgil wrap an arm around them, before relaxing and sinking into the hug. 

"Sorry," Patton said. "I... I’m glad that I'm at the Academy, I guess. But I just wish..." 

"I get it," Virgil said. "It's okay. I mean, part of me still hates the Academy, 'cause when I got there it's just like I moved from my family hating me to the whole world hating me. But, uh, it was better, I guess. And ultimately it led me to you, so..." 

Patton tried his best not to freak out at the last part, instead trying to remain calm and focus on the rest. "People there didn't hate you, did they?" 

"They did," Virgil said. "They were all afraid of me as well. You were the first person to ever show an ounce of kindness to me." 

Patton blinked. "I don't really think that's an achievement. People should have already been nice to you."

"Yeah, I know. It sucked. But people _aren't_ like that." 

Patton breathed in. "Yeah. You're right. Half the people at the Academy... _don't like_ me too." 

Virgil frowned. "Yeah?" 

"Yeah." They breathed out. "I mean, you saw those guys in your dorms, right?" 

Virgil blinked, before slowly nodding. "Yeah. Those guys are assholes, though." 

Patton chuckled, lightly. "Yeah, I guess so. But, uh, that's not exactly the _first_ time that's happened. And probably won't be the last."

"It _will_ be the last if I have anything to say about it." 

"Please don't use violence." 

"You can't stop me." 

Patton smiled for a moment, in pure bliss at Virgil's presence, at his... dedication to keeping Patton happy, but they soon lost the smile as their thoughts from before came back. "Well, uh, most guys at the Academy aren't a fan of us Lanamians. Y'know, my powers are literally _flowers_." 

"It's more than that," Virgil said. "You can heal and stuff." 

"Yeah, but... those kinds of people ignore that. They just see me as some sort of dumb, happy-go-lucky child," they said. "A lot of people just... don't really respect Lanamia. They think it's all _sunshine and rainbows_ , and, like, don't get me wrong, it kind of is, but there's a lot more to it. They look at me and see all the pastel and the flowers and think, _Oh yeah, that guy will be easy to punch._ "

Virgil blinked. "You've literally helped to take down _dragons_." 

"I'm not really a fighter, like the rest of all of you." 

" _You've taken down dragons_." 

"Okay, fine, I guess," they admitted. "But, well... that's different. That's the enemy, y'know? We're talking about people who are supposed to be _on our side_. I can't fight back. That wouldn't be right." 

"If they're hurting you, then they don't deserve your morals or whatever," Virgil said. "You can't just let them push you around like that." 

"I _try_ not to," Patton said. "I try to stay away from them. Stick with the twins or Logan, since no one dares to mess with any of them. But... well, I don't exactly make it any easier for myself. Like..." They sat up, moving away from Virgil's arms. "Like, I _choose_ to dress like some sort of pastel fairy, easily identifying myself as a Lanamian, plus there's the fact that I'm genderqueer and don't do anything to hide it, and-" 

"Literally none of that is a reason for someone to be shitty to you," Virgil interrupted. "You're an _amazing_ person, Patton. You don't deserve any of this." 

Patton was silent for a moment. Virgil was... right. They really should start sticking up for themself, stop taking all the crap they get from the guys at the Academy. 

Virgil looked at them. "If anyone ever gives you trouble again, you tell me, alright? I'll make sure they stop." 

"You really don't have to-" 

"I want to." Virgil took their hand. "I don't want you to be hurt." 

Patton gave him a small smile. "Alright. Same for you, though. You don't deserve any of their hate, either." 

"Well, uh, actually I kinda do, like my powers are kinda uncontrollable, I could literally kill any of them at any point-" 

"Virgil." 

"Okay, yeah, fine, whatever." 

Patton looked at him for a moment longer, staring into his eyes, fascinated again by the one purple and one green eye. Part of them was tempted to reach up one hand and swipe away the hair falling over his green eye, but- 

Their eyes widened. "Wait, we were gonna dye your hair!" 

Virgil blinked. "Uh, I think there's slightly more important things to be thinking about right now-" 

Patton jumped off their bed and went to look in the drawers on the desk, taking out a bottle of purple dye they'd made ages ago. They never had got around to trying this dye out on themself, but it was still safely sealed in its bottle. "It's fine, this won't take long." 

"Pat, uh, shouldn't we be looking for your mothers?"

Patton hummed. "Wait here." They put the dye down on their desk, then left the room, going to check the rest of the rooms upstairs - all empty - before running downstairs and into the living room. 

Logan and Remus looked over from their spot on the sofa. Patton tried not to take notice of the fact that Remus was draped over Logan and the fact that Logan's cheeks were blushed bright blue. 

"Sorry, uh, you two sleep here for the night, my mothers aren't here, I'm gonna look for them in the morning," they quickly said, not waiting for a reply before returning upstairs. 

They grabbed the dye off their desk again and sat down on the bed behind Virgil. 

"They're not here," they said. "So we're gonna sleep here for the night and then look for them in the morning." 

"Alright." Virgil's shoulders relaxed. "But, uh, are you sure about this dye thing?" 

"Of course!" Patton grinned. "You'll look _amazing_. And the dye is perfectly safe." They hummed. "If you actually want it dying, that is." 

"I do," Virgil decided. "Just... get it over with, before I chicken out." 

Patton nodded and got to work, mixing the purple pigment into Virgil's hair and adding in a little of their own magic to make it stick. The two fell into a comfortable silence as Patton worked, both happy to be in one another's presence. When Patton was done, they let the hair dry for a while, still sitting in silence, before Patton pulled Virgil down onto the bed, which Virgil didn't protest against. Virgil's arms wrapped around Patton, and Patton smiled, as the two of them drifted off to sleep.


	45. Chapter 45

Logan woke up in Remus’ arms, and this alarmed him for a number of reasons. One, he didn’t remember falling asleep like this, meaning this was Remus’ doing. Two, he was currently in a stranger’s home and either the owners, or Patton and Virgil themselves, could walk in on them at any time. And three, he... almost _liked_ it. Being this close to Remus, able to feel the warmth of his body, somebody clinging on protectively, like he’d never let him go. Maybe this was what Logan wanted, to wake up every morning to someone who cares about him, someone who will do everything in their power to keep him safe, happy. 

But no, he _couldn’t_ want that. He didn’t want it. That- That wasn’t what he was like. And physical affection was still something that Logan... wasn’t quite sure on, when it came to everyone, but _especially_ with Remus. 

That was weird. He used to be fine with being physical with Remus, it never really bothered him when Remus touched him, that was just what Remus was like. He... liked it, he supposed, like Remus was giving him this special thing he’d always been missing out on, it was _fine_ when it came to Remus. But knowing how Remus felt for him, and knowing that he _may_ feel the same way made it... awkward. Like... Like Remus wanted more, and Logan couldn’t give it to him. 

Logan tried to move away from Remus, but Remus just pulled him closer, hugging him tighter. Alright then, guess he’d have to do things the hard way. He gently shook Remus to attempt to wake him, and then started whispering his name. Nothing. He sighed. Didn’t look as though Remus would be waking up any time soon. 

Alright then. Fine, that was fine. Logan closed his eyes again, figuring that there was not much more he could do. Remus shuffled underneath him, one eye half-opening. Logan looked back down at him, frowning a little, until Remus lifted up his head and planted a small kiss on Logan‘s cheek, causing his face to turn bright blue and subsequently his brain to shut down. When Logan looked over again, Remus had fallen back asleep. 

Okay. Okay, that was- that probably didn’t mean anything. Just Remus being Remus, right? Yeah... 

Logan went back to sleep after that, figuring it may be a while before Patton and Virgil would wake up, and it didn’t seem as though he would be moving any time soon.

~*~

Virgil awoke to see a woman standing over him, a concerned expression on her face. He frowned, looking her up and down - she looked vaguely like Patton, with the same pink, curly hair and freckles all over her face. Virgil slowly sat up, blinking as he tried to adjust to the sunlight seeping in through the window. He reached a hand over to Patton (lying besides him for some reason - had they shared a bed?) and gently shook their shoulder, trying to wake them up. 

"Uh, Pat?" Virgil said, his voice gravelly. 

Patton groaned. "No." 

"Seriously, Pat, uh-" 

"Five more minutes." 

" _Patton_." 

Sighing, Patton sat up and looked ahead, frowning for a moment until his eyes widened in realisation. "Ma?" They jumped out of bed and threw their arms around the woman, burying their head in her shoulder. She stumbled back a little, but slowly raised her hand to pat Patton's back. 

When they drew away, Patton with tears in their eyes, the woman frowned. "Darling, why are you-" 

"Oh!" Patton grinned. "I'm on a mission! And we were passing through Lanamia, so thought we'd come and visit!" 

Virgil quietly got out of bed and made his way towards the doors, before Patton grabbed his arm and pulled him back. 

"And this is my boyfriend!" they exclaimed, wrapping their arm around Virgil, who ducked his head in embarrassment and tried not to make eye contact with the woman - Patton's mother? They'd called her 'Ma', so... 

"Boyfriend?" Patton's Ma repeated. 

"Yeah! His name's Virgil, we met at the Academy, we're gonna move in together when we're finished at the Academy, just like you and Mum did!" 

Virgil blushed. "I, uh-" 

Another person stepped into the room. "Hey, uh, Petunia, any idea why there's two teenagers sleeping in our living-" She paused. "Pat?" 

Patton grinned and turned around, dragging Virgil with them. "Mum! You're here! Hi! This is my boyfriend!" 

"I wouldn't say _boyfriend_ , exactly," Virgil muttered. 

"This is the love of my life!" 

Virgil's cheeks somehow grew even redder. 

Patton's Mum looked over at Patton's Ma, who just shrugged, before Patton's Mum rushed over to the two of them and enveloped both of them in a hug - well, enveloped _Patton_ in a hug, which in turn led to Virgil joining because Patton apparently refused to let go of him. Not that he was complaining. Still, he tried his best to wiggle his way out, only to find Patton hugging him tighter. 

But when they all finally drew apart, Virgil moved to the side, taking in several deep breaths. He thought he'd finally be free for at least a moment to recompose himself, until Patton's Mum rushed over again, grabbing one of Virgil's shoulders and poking all around him. 

"He's not Lanamian," she muttered.

"He's Therban," Patton said, coming besides them and sitting on their bed. 

"Therban?" she repeated. "Where'd you meet him?" 

"The Academy," Patton said. "He's magic. Like us!" 

She was poking his cheeks now. Virgil figured that he wouldn't be getting away any time soon. 

"And you slept with him last night?" Patton's Ma said, standing a little to the side with her arms folded. Virgil tried to remain calm, afraid that Patton's Ma may have taken this the wrong way, or maybe their Mum didn't approve of him, or maybe- 

"We shared a bed, yeah," Patton said. "We, uh, arrived last night. Tried to look for you but you weren't here." 

"We were at work." She hummed. "Lily, leave Virgil alone." 

Patton's Mum stepped away from Virgil. _Thank God._ She turned to Patton. "Okay, uh, now that's out of the way, do _you_ know why there's two teenagers sleeping in the living room." 

Patton's eyes widened. "Oh! That's Remus and Logan, we're travelling with them. Remus is _royalty_ , how _cool_ is that?" They dragged their Mum out of the room and downstairs, leaving Virgil in the bedroom with their Ma. 

Virgil sat down on Patton's bed, taking deep breaths. Patton's Ma looked at him, frowning a little. 

"Are you alright?" she asked, sitting down next to Virgil. 

Virgil's shoulders stiffened. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh, I just- I'm not really used to this." 

She raised an eyebrow. "Used to what?" 

"Uh... _this_." He rubbed the back of his neck. 

Despite not really explaining anything, she didn't attempt to dig further. "Patton said you're Therban." 

"I am." 

"I thought Therbans didn't have magic?" 

"They don't." Virgil sighed. "Well, most of them don't. I'm the exception, I guess." He fiddled with the sleeves of his jacket. "Sorry for just, like, showing up here." 

She frowned. "This is Patton's home. They're welcome here at any time. And you are as well, since you're Patton's boyfriend, apparently." 

"We're not-" He groaned. "Okay, yeah, sure, whatever." 

"Are you sure you're alright?" 

"I'm never alright," he joked, before biting his lip and trying again. "I mean, uh, I am fine, I think. Again, just... not used to this. Y'know, like, the whole _family_ thing or whatever." 

"Do you not have a family?" 

Virgil cringed. "I, uh, I do, kinda, but they all kinda hate me, and, uh, I guess I _don't_ really have a family anymore, I don't know, I..." _Stop oversharing, you piece of shit_ , he told himself. 

He half expected her to shout at him, or ask even more questions that he didn't want to answer, but instead he just felt an arm wrap around his shoulder. "It's alright. You're one of us now." 

Virgil blinked. "What?" 

"You can be part of our family." 

He felt like he might cry. Wait, no, not _felt_. He _was_. Tears were welling up in his eyes and there was nothing he could do about it. She looked panicked, as well, which just made _him_ panic, and _oh God he'd fucked up somehow hadn't he-_

"Sorry, I-" He wiped away his tears. "I-" 

She brought up her other arm and hugged Virgil fully, holding him tight. Okay, so... she wasn't mad? This wasn't what people did when they were mad. She was... 

God, she reminded him so much of his own mother. The way that his mother used to hold him when he was little, reassure him that everything would be okay, even when his siblings hated him and everyone in the village refused to go near him. He missed her so much. So, so much. And now he... he couldn't just _replace_ her with Patton's Ma, that wouldn't be right, but _God_ was he happy that he now had someone _like_ her in his life, or _hopefully_ in his life. Assuming things went well with Patton. Which they would, Virgil was sure of that, Patton was brilliant - he supposed that they got that from their Ma. 

"Sorry," Virgil said again, when they pulled apart and he managed to stop crying. "Uh, my mother... passed away, a while ago. I hadn't seen her since I was... since I was ten. And I just found out recently, and, uh-" 

"It's okay," she said, gently, "you don't have to explain yourself. You're safe here, alright?" 

Virgil smiled. "Yeah. Uh. Thanks." 

"It's alright." She smiled back. "Now - you and Patton?" 

~*~ 

Declan dived behind a rock, dragging Remy and Emile with him - a couple from Divitunia, as he'd learnt, who'd been kidnapped along with Roman - as he saw a few Ignebris soldiers patrolling. This may be harder than he'd first expected - going in by himself would've been fine, he could just turn invisible, but now he had Remy and Emile with him, who obviously couldn't turn invisible. 

"What's happening?" Emile whispered, crouching down besides Declan. 

Declan just glared at him. 

"Sorry." Emile looked down. "Uh..." 

Declan sighed. "Alright. Since you're not gonna be quiet anyway..." 

"Oh, is that what you wanted?" 

Remy nudged Emile to get him to shut up. 

"Are either of you two any good at fighting?" Declan asked. 

Remy glanced at Emile, then back at Declan. "I can throw a good punch. And Emile does wonders with magic, but, uh-" 

"Don't have my staff," Emile said. "Left it at home. Kinda useless without it." 

Declan raised an eyebrow. "You can do magic, though?" 

"Not without my staff." 

Huh. Declan had never heard of that. He knew that a lot of sorcerers from Divitunia used staffs, but he always assumed that was more for the aesthetic than actual magical ability. 

"Okay, well, you stay back here then," Declan said. 

"Hey, no, I wanna help!" 

"Emile, babe, Declan's right," Remy said. "We don't want you getting hurt."

"I don't want _you_ getting hurt either! You don't even _have_ any magic." 

"Yeah, but as I said, I can throw a good punch-" 

" _How_ is that going to help?" Emile said, increasingly frustrated. "These are _literal fire demons_." 

"They're not quite _fire demons_ ," Declan said. "They use fire magic and some of them do have fiery features, but they're still just people like the rest of us."

"Not the point." Emile sighed. "If you two are gonna put your lives at risk, I want to too." 

"Well, when you put it like _that_ I kinda don't want to," Remy mumbled. 

"I'm not asking either of you two to put your lives at risk," Declan said. "I _have_ to do this, for Roman, but you two can go home if you want." 

" _No_ ," Emile said, decisively. "We want to help!" 

"Okay, okay." Declan breathed in. "Any idea where they might be holding him?" 

Emile shrugged. “I don’t know. One of the... uh, dragon ladies-“ 

“Dragon Witches,” Declan assumed. 

“Yeah, that. Uh, she had him. Didn’t say where they were heading, though. And it was kinda difficult to tell when we were tied up in the back of a cart.” 

“Ah.” Declan hummed. “Well, I imagine they’ll be taking him further into Ignebris.” He peeked over the rock, surveying the area around him. There were a few guards, just standing around and talking, but no one else in sight. “Alright, you two stay here, I’ll be back in a moment.” 

“But-“ 

Declan leapt out from behind the rock and turned invisible before landing. The guards looked in his direction, frowning for a second, before returning to their conversation. He smirked and made his way over towards them, wrapping his fingers around his sword. The guards didn’t have any clear weapons in sight, but Declan assumed they would have some pretty powerful magic. That was fine - this would be almost too easy. 

He stuck his sword into the first soldier’s back and yanked it out, watching him fall to the floor. The others looked up and Declan’s magic stopped working - they knew he was here now, he couldn’t hide. _Fuck_. 

Oh, and they _did_ have weapons, strapped to their sides. Perfect. Declan’s scales flickered purple for a second, before he recomposed himself and got into a battle stance, easily blocking the first swing from one guard. He thrust his sword out to the second guard, who blocked his attack whilst the first charged forward. 

Declan cringed upon feeling metal sink into his arm and stumbled back. He reached up a hand and clasped it over the wound, feeling a wetness that was most certainly blood - brilliant, _just_ brilliant. Rage in his eyes, he surged forward and stabbed the first soldier, who fell to the floor as well, then turned to the other and grabbed his shirt, holding his sword up to his neck. The soldier dropped his own sword and stood still, eyes widened in shock. 

“Where is he?” Declan grumbled. 

“Wh-Who?” 

“The Prince. Where the _fuck_ is he?” 

“What, Prince Roman?” 

“ _Yes_ , Prince Roman.” Declan gripped his shirt tighter. “Tell me or I’ll slit your throat.” 

“I- I don’t know, they probably took him to the Palace-“ 

Declan let go, shoving the soldier into the floor. “Tell anyone that I’m here, and you’re dead.” He turned around, returning to Remy and Emile, both looking at him with fear in their eyes. “He’s in the Palace. C’mon.”


	46. Chapter 46

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: imprisonment

Roman watched the guards patrol around his cage. He'd been staring at them for the past... few hours, maybe, he wasn't sure how long, just to try to figure out their pattern. So far, he hadn't been able to find one. He'd figured out that there were five in all - or maybe more, he wasn't _entirely_ sure, all of them looked pretty much the same - but they didn't seem to have a clear routine. It honestly seemed like they were just doing what they wanted. Every now and then, they'd disappear for a while, or sometimes they'd sit outside and play cards. There were never more than three together at once, but the groups always mixed up. 

Maybe this wasn't the best way to plan his escape. It would certainly be helpful if he could figure out a way to get these ropes off him, then maybe he could barge out of the cage and he'd _easily_ take down the guards outside. None of them even looked like _fighters._ But there was no chance of him getting out of the cage. The Dragon Witch had left ages ago, so she couldn't stop him at least, but he couldn't do anything either if he was stuck sitting on the floor with no way to move. 

One guard sat outside his cage, yawning. Roman hummed. Was it night time already? He was stuck inside somewhere, possibly underground, so he couldn't see the sky. It couldn't be night yet, though, could it? Maybe it had already been night and this guard had stayed up the whole time. Roman didn't know. He decided to stop thinking about it. 

"Hey," he whispered, causing the guard to jump. They slowly turned their head, frowning at Roman. Roman frowned back - they looked young, probably the same age as Roman himself. Huh. "Hey, could you untie me maybe?" 

Their eyes darted around, looking everywhere but at Roman. "W-We're not supp- not supposed to talk to you." 

"I'm not asking you to _talk_ to me, just _untie_ me." 

"We're... not supposed to do that, either." 

Roman groaned. This wasn't going to work. Why did he even _think_ that would work? 

The guard had turned around now, sitting crossed legged in front of his cage. "Hey, are you okay?" 

Roman glared at him. "What do you _think_?" 

"I-I don't know-" 

"I've been _kidnapped_ , my father is _dyin_ , I have no idea where my friends are or if they're okay, I'm _tied up_ and in a _cage_ , in what world would I _possibly_ be okay with this?" 

The guard blinked. "You were kidnapped?" 

"Yeah, obviously, I didn't just _walk_ into Ignebris, I'm not an _idiot_." 

"You mean... you're not from here?" the guard asked. 

Roman frowned. "No? Obviously not?" He stared at the guard. "Who told you that?" 

"The Dragon Witch," they said. "She... She said you were a criminal." 

Roman rolled his eyes. "Of _fucking_ course she did. I'm not. In case you can't tell, I'm a _Satyr_." 

They looked at him now, locking their eyes with his. "We have Satyr's here too." 

Roman laughed. They just kept staring at him. Roman lost that smile. "You're... not joking?" 

"No, I'm not," the guard promised. "Our _King_ is a Satyr." 

"No, _our_ King is a Satyr. The King of Silvales. Y'know." 

"You do realise that we're all originally _from_ Silvales, right?" the guard asked. 

For a moment, Roman didn't know how to respond. What the _fuck_ was this guard saying? They couldn't have been serious, right? The Ignebris lot couldn't be from Silvales, they were _evil_ , they couldn't... 

"Did you not know?" 

Roman glanced down at the floor. "No. I didn’t." 

"Years ago Silvales kicked a bunch of us out, and we ended up settling down here," the guard explained. "I mean, not me, of course, I was born here, but, like, my grandparents used to live in Silvales, before they were driven out." 

That didn't make any sense. Silvales was a welcoming Kingdom, they were fine with _anybody_ coming and making a life for themselves there, and they'd never force someone to leave. Apart from people from Ignebris, Roman supposed, but that was just because of the war, right? They'd never... They'd never force anyone out for no reason. 

"Why?" Roman asked. 

The guard shrugged. "I don't know, probably didn't approve of their magic. Fire can be pretty destructive. I'm sure _you_ know that." 

Roman clenched his fists. _His_ magic was fire, why... why would they force someone out because of that? They hadn't forced _Roman_ out, his parents _encouraged_ his magic- 

Well... no. Now that Roman thought about it, they didn't, not really. They'd always told Roman to be careful, not let him use his magic inside the Palace, told him to focus more on his sword training than his magic training. He practised magic as well, of course, just outside of the Palace when he used to play with Remus. And his parents had noticed that, and then... sent him to the Academy. Sent him _away_. Is that- Is that why- 

"Guard two-six-oh, why are you talking to the prisoner?" 

Roman looked back up. The Dragon Witch was here. Brilliant. 

The guard scrambled away, as the Dragon Witch drifted into Roman's cage, crouching down in front of him. "Ha. Talking to the _guards_ now. How pathetic." 

Roman spat in her face. 

She sighed and wiped her face. "Charming." 

"Let me out of this cage and _maybe_ I'll give you some dignity." 

She stood back up, stepping back towards the entrance. "What a shame. I was _actually_ planning on freeing you for a while, but if you're going to act like _that_ , I think you need a little more time in here." 

Roman's eyes widened. "Wait-" 

Just as she was about to leave the jail, a tail swinging mockingly behind her, a wall of fire rose from the floor, blocking her exit. She smirked, turning her head to face Roman. "Still have some magic, huh?" 

Roman blinked. How had he- 

The Dragon Witch snapped her fingers and the ropes around Roman's wrists loosened, falling to the floor. Roman brought his arms out in front of him, watching the flames begin to dance around his fingertips. He looked back up at the Dragon Witch, anger brewing up inside of him, and got up to his feet, charging towards her with fire starting to surround his entire body. 

However, the Dragon Witch thrust out a hand and Roman froze in place, physically unable to move. She stepped towards him, smirking, and touched his neck with the end of her talons, so close to puncturing his skin. 

"Oh, darling, don't think you're getting away so easily," she said, her smile fading a little. "We still have a use for you." 

"You're not _using_ me for anything." 

She shook her head, sighing. "You have no _idea_ what you can do, do you?" 

Roman frowned. "What?" 

"We can train you," she said. She clicked her fingers and Roman could move again, as she drew her hand away again. "You have fire magic, yes? So do we." 

Roman clenched his fists. "I don't need to be _trained_ by you." 

"Oh, honey." She smiled, sadly. "We're the only people who _can_ train you. Silvales will shun you for your fire magic, it's a _danger_ to them all, and the Academy doesn't understand how it works. Only _we_ can help." 

"I... I already know how to control my magic," Roman said. 

"Do you, now?" 

"Yes." Roman groaned. "And I don't have _time_ for this. My friends- They'll be here soon, I-" 

"Oh, you don't _really_ think your friends are coming to save you?" 

Roman frowned. "O-Of course they are, why-" 

"Look, Roman," the Dragon Witch said, folding her arms, "we want to make you an offer. Join us." 

"What?" 

" _Join us_ ," she repeated. "Your magic is incredible, we could use you, much more than what Silvales would ever even _allow_ you to do." 

"Silvales needs me," Roman growled. "I'm not going to _abandon_ them for a _Dragon Witch_." 

"Silvales doesn't _need_ you," she said. "If they did, they'd already be here to save you." 

Roman fell silent. She must have just been... tricking him, twisting her words to make her seem like less of a bad guy, make his _family_ seem like the bad ones. And... part of Roman believed her. He had to admit that, yes, sometimes he _did_ wonder about his family. They said that they loved him and everything, and trusted him enough to name him first in line to the throne, rather than Remus who... well, yeah, _that_ part made sense, Roman wouldn't trust Remus with the throne either. But the point was they _trusted_ him to rule. So they must need him, right? 

But there was always... _something_ off. They sent him away to the Academy, despite the fact it would be a lot easier to educate him in the Palace, teach him how to be King. He was never allowed to use his magic when his parents were around - they were always afraid of him messing up and creating chaos, which _really_ was more Remus' thing but it always made him feel... well, it was almost like they didn't trust him. Trusted him to take over the country, but not to... live his life how he wanted. He _loved_ magic, _everyone_ in Silvales did, so why... 

"You _belong_ here, Roman," the Dragon Witch said. "You can't tell me that I'm wrong." 

"You _are_ wrong, though," Roman said. "I belong back in Silvales. With my family. And... with my friends." 

The Dragon Witch rolled her eyes. "What family? What friends? Surely if you were so close to them they'd be coming to save you." 

"They _are_ ," Roman insisted. Of course they were. Declan had- Declan had said they were coming. Declan wouldn't lie to him, would they? 

Expect... they had. So many times before. About who they were, where they came from, why they were part of Roman's life. They didn't show up in Silvales because they wanted to help, they showed up because they needed a place to hide. For years they had told Roman that they ran away from home, and then he found out that they'd been kicked out, because they were a _criminal._ A child, yeah, but still a criminal. And on top of all of that, they lied about their _name_. And they said that it was just to protect themself, but... it didn't sit right with Roman either way. He didn't know how to feel about Declan, now, but... things were certainly looking to be not so great. 

What if they weren't searching? What if his friends, his _boyfriend_ had just abandoned him? 

The Dragon Witch's offer was beginning to sound tempting, to say the least. She had fire magic too, so... maybe she could teach him how to _actually_ control it. Give him a few tips. Do more than the Academy, at the very least. 

"Alright," Roman said. "I'll... join you." 

He told himself that he was just doing this as a way to get out. She'd let him out of the cage, eventually leave him alone at some point, then he could run out of there. After she'd taught him a little, of course. He _knew_ that she was just trying to manipulate him, but... well, who was to say that he couldn't manipulate _her_ as well? 

She smirked. "You're not playing a trick on me, are you?" 

Of course he was. Why wouldn't he? She could see right through him. 

"No," Roman said. "I mean it." He didn't. He kept telling himself that he _didn't mean it._

But... perhaps part of him did. 

She held out a hand. "Welcome to the team." 

He shook her hand, and immediately felt a scorching pain on his upper arm, near his shoulder. He winced, glancing over to see smoke rising, and then a tattoo forming, a central flame sprouting a pair of deep red wings.


	47. Chapter 47

Logan sat awkwardly at the dinner table, staring down at the slice of pie sitting in front of him, half-listening to the conversation around him. For the past couple of hours, Patton has been filling in their mothers about the quest, and their time at school, and who their friends were, and, quite frankly, Logan was getting a little sick of it. He knew that it had been a while since Patton had come home, and he knew that they were pretty close to their parents, so he really couldn’t blame them for wanting to catch up, but... well, surely Patton knew there were more important things to be dealing with right now. 

Logan felt a hand land on his leg, which he hadn’t noticed had been bouncing up and down. He glanced up, noticing Remus looking at him, concerned. Logan slowly moved his leg to force Remus to move their hand away and stared back down at the pie. He hadn’t even started to eat it yet, and it must have been in front of him for a while now. He picked up the fork besides the plate and began to slowly eat - it was pretty good, he supposed, but not something he’d want to eat all the time. 

Once the pie was fully eaten and Patton still showed no signs of stopping, Logan cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt this... reunion,” he said, the family of three turning their heads to face him, “but I believe we should be getting back to business.” 

“Oh,” one of Patton’s mothers said - Ma, Logan was pretty sure Patton had called her. “What would that be?” 

“We’re heading to Caetus,” Logan stated. “Patton thought that you may be able to help us get over Dyra.” 

The two mothers glanced at each other. The second one - who Patton called Mum - looked back at Logan. “Dyra isn’t exactly... safe, right now. And neither is Caetus.” 

“We’re well aware of the risks, Ma’am,” Logan said. “It’s something that we have no choice but to do. The Silvalan King is in danger, and we need to get to Caetus to help him. The only way into Caetus is through Dyra.” 

The mothers still didn’t look too pleased. 

“Please,” Patton said, “we just need to get through Dyra. We’re not... asking you to come into Caetus with us, we can handle that, but...” 

“Things are bad in Dyra,” Patton’s Ma said. “I don’t want any of you to get hurt.” 

“We can handle ourselves,” Patton promised. “We’ve fought Dragon Witches, Ma. We can do this.” 

After a moment of silence, Patton’s Ma sighed. “Is this important to your mission?” 

“Yes.” 

“Then... alright. Just promise that you’ll stay close to us, alright?” 

~*~ 

Declan glanced around a rock, surveying the area around him. To get to the Palace, they’d have to go through Igni City, the capital of Ignebris, and... well, the group composed of a Knight of Silvales and two Divitunians. Not exactly the most welcome people in Ignebris. 

“Do we have a plan?” Emile asked, crouching down next to Declan. 

Declan hummed. “Go through the city. Get to the Palace. Rescue Roman.” 

“I hate to break it to you,” Emile said, “but that isn’t exactly a plan.” 

Declan moved back behind the rock, sinking down to the ground. “I could probably get away with getting in. I’m a Denemi, who have apparently _joined_ Ignebris now, and if all else fails I can turn invisible. But...” 

“Why can’t you just go beat up the guards again?” Remy asked. 

“I don’t particularly want to cause a scene.” 

“Or! Or, we _could_ cause a scene, then maybe we’d get thrown into jail as well and we’d be able to find Roman,” Remy suggested. 

Emile shoved him. “Then _we’d_ be stuck in jail as well.” 

“No, we’d-“ Remy’s face fell. “Oh. Yeah, we would.” 

“The best thing for us to do would be to move through the city undetected,” Declan said. “Again, I would be able to do that as a Denemi, but-“ 

“You could pretend that we’re your prisoners,” Remy suggested. 

“That-“ 

Declan grinned. “That’s not a bad idea, actually.” 

Emile shook his head. “No, then we’re back to being thrown in jail.” 

“I’m not going to throw you in jail,” Declan said. “It’s just an excuse to get us into the city. Besides, it would also give us an excuse to go down to the jails, which I assume is where Roman is being held.” 

“Great,” Remy said. “Let’s go then.” 

“I still think-“ 

“We’ll be _fine_ , babe,” Remy said, to which Emile softened up a little. “We can do this.” 

Emile breathed out. “Alright. Alright, let’s go.” 

~*~ 

The six stood on the edge of Dyra Meadow, bracing themselves for what was to come. Patton’s mothers had given them a briefing - there were wind spirits all over Dyra, as well as... more mischievous spirits, dangerous spirits, who could alter reality and twist the world around them based on what they see in a person. Apparently, there’d been hundreds of incidents recently of people coming across these spirits and descending into madness, struggling to cope with existence, until someone - usually either of Patton’s mothers, but there was a larger team - came to help. They’d decided it would be best to avoid those spirits all together, but... 

Well, the best thing to do would be to get through Dyra as quickly as possible. 

On Patton’s mothers’ signal, the six of them ran forwards, through the grass and the flowers towards the mountains far in the distance. After feeling a jolt of pain up his leg, Logan rose a few metres into the sky, feeling the wind help to lift him up. That was a little unexpected, but he supposed the stars would appreciate the winds help at least. Patton’s Mum glanced back at him, looking a little concerned. 

“Don’t worry!” Patton shouted, over the wind. “He broke his leg a while ago, floating is normal for him!” 

“He did _what_?” 

“It’s alright,” Logan said, somehow calmly. 

“Why didn’t you heal him, Patton?” Patton’s Ma asked. 

“I tried,” Patton said. “I healed him as well as I could, but... it was a pretty nasty injury.” 

“Remind me to heal him properly at the next safe point,” Patton’s Mum said. 

However, it seemed like that time wouldn’t come, as Logan was thrown to the side, landing on the hard floor. He curled in on himself as... as _something_ hit him over and over again, bashing against his face and his body and throwing him all over the floor. The others rushed over, Patton and his mothers beginning to throw flowers towards Logan, which circled around in the air above him. He felt something scratch at his cheek, drawing blood, and ripping up his clothes. 

And then everything went dark. The scratching stopped. Logan tried to breathe but found himself unable to. He closed his eyes, concentrating hard until he was able to summon stars to force the darkness to go away. And then he was lying in the meadow, gasping for air. 

Patton rushed over to his side. “Are you okay?” He placed a hand on Logan’s cheek, beginning to clear away some of the blood. 

“What- What happened?” 

“A wind spirit,” Patton’s Ma said, crouching down besides Logan. “It must have caught you when you rose up.” She worked on healing him, as well. 

Logan tried to steady his breathing. “I-“ 

“Shh,” Patton said, helping Logan to sit up. “It’ll be okay, alright?” 

“Yes.” Logan shoved Patton’s hand off him and stood up, wobbling a little but finding that... his leg was fine. _Everything_ was fine. Patton’s Ma must have... _Gods_ , she must be a powerful healer. “Let’s keep moving.” 

They began to walk more slowly through the meadow after that encounter, now keeping an eye out for danger rather than trying to avoid it all together. Logan fell besides Remus, crossing his arms. 

“Are you alright?” Remus asked. 

“I’m fine,” Logan said, bluntly. 

Remus glanced down. 

“I-I mean...” Logan sighed. “Truthfully, no. That was scary. I- I actually thought for a moment I might have... died.” 

Remus wrapped an arm around Logan’s shoulder, to which Logan tensed up, but didn’t protest. 

“Everything went dark, and...” 

“Oh, that was Virgil,” Remus said. 

Logan frowned. “...Virgil?” 

“Yeah, he fought off the wind spirit,” Remus said, smiling. “You should’ve seen him, he was brilliant.” 

Logan glanced over at Virgil, eyebrows raised slightly. He had... saved him. Huh. 

~*~ 

Declan stopped in front of the gates, trying to avoid eye contact with the two guards. Hopefully they’d let him past without a word, but... 

“Name?” 

Oh _shit_. 

“You... want my name?” Declan asked. 

The guard glared at him. 

Declan cleared his throat. “I’m here to deliver these two to the jail. I found them wandering around just within the border of Ignebris, planning an attack I assume-“ 

“Name?” the guard repeated. 

Declan gulped. Maybe they should have thought this plan through a little more. 

Unable to think of an answer, Declan instead resorted to violence. He drew his sword and stabbed one guard in the chest, which didn’t exactly _do_ much as the guard was literally made of fire, so all that it really did was annoy him a little. Remy moved forward and punched the other guard (this one a corporeal person, and not made out of literal fire) in the face, knocking him out. Emile grabbed a rock off the floor and threw it at the fire guard, which just seemed to piss him off even more. 

The guard raised his arms up and fire exploded from the ground beneath them, trapping the three of them. Declan closed his eyes and tried to recompose himself. Well. That hadn’t exactly gone as planned. 

A few moments later, another few guards joined, one replacing the unconscious guard and the other two escorting the three of them through the city, towards the Palace - presumably towards the jail, actually. At least they’d still get to where they were going. Being locked up wasn’t exactly ideal, but... he was getting closer to Roman. He could _feel_ him, near. He just... wanted to be close to him, wanted to hug him, tell him how much he loved him, be held by him, kiss him... 

He really shouldn’t be thinking about that as he was led through a city filled with people who hated everything that he fought for, heading towards his certain doom. He doubted that he’d be kept alive in the jail - Ignebris wasn’t exactly the most merciful of places - but perhaps he’d have _some_ time, at least to see Roman. He could plan an escape, save Roman, and everything would be okay again. 

Remus nudged him with his shoulder. “We’ll find him.” 

The tips of Declan’s mouth lifted up. “Yeah. I hope so.” 

The guards lead them into the Palace and down a winding staircase, coming out in the jails well below the surface. Lava leaked down from the ceiling, and pools formed all around them, and Declan was reminded of the fact that this really wasn’t a great place for Remy and Emile. Declan could survive the heat, he was built to survive heat, and Roman could probably cope with it due to his own magic, but these two... just weren’t built for this, at all. If they weren’t killed first, they’d probably die from the heat. He could already see them beginning to sweat. 

This would be fine, though. They wouldn’t be in here long. The three were stuffed into a cell and left alone, no clear way to get out. Emile and Remy both sank down to the floor, seemingly defeated. They moved close to one another, holding each other tight. Declan wished he had someone to hold him as well. 

“Declan?” a voice said. Declan looked out the cage, frowning a little before spotting Roman down the hallway, out of his cell. His eyes widened. 

“Roman,” he breathed, rushing over to the bars and clinging on, wishing that Roman was closer.


	48. Chapter 48

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: past bad family relations, panic attack

They'd been walking for an hour or so now, and stopped for a rest in one of the safe spots, under a great oak tree. They hadn't run into any more problems since Logan's encounter with the wind spirit, and Virgil dreaded to see what would come next. He knew that it would only get worse the closer they got to the Caetus border, and he imagined that things would be even harder once they were actually in Caetus. But it wasn't as if they had a choice. They had to do this. Or whatever. 

As the group sat down under the tree, Virgil wrapped an arm around Patton, pulling them closer. Logan and Remus had caught onto their relationship pretty quickly - or, well, Virgil supposed it wasn't difficult for them to understand, since Patton shouted it out to the world every five minutes. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before they had to start moving again, wanting to reach the Caetus border before nightfall. They'd have to set up camp soon, anyway, and doing that just within the borders was probably a better idea - at the moment, it wasn't exactly safe to be staying in Dyra overnight. Or in the daytime, either, but it was a little better. And besides, they'd be able to find a shelter of sorts in Caetus, perhaps a cave on the side of the cliff, which would ultimately be safer for them. 

Virgil stuck close to Patton as they walked, clinging onto their hand. He could do that now, without feeling weird or questioning his feelings, and he was so _happy_ about that. Of course, Patton probably wouldn't have minded if Virgil held their hand before, but... well, this was better anyway. Knowing that Patton was his. That the two of them now belonged to each other. 

"Told you you had a crush," Remus whispered into Virgil's ear, as they skipped past them. 

Virgil glared at them. "Literally nobody asked." 

"Am I wrong, though?" 

Virgil groaned. Remus smirked at him. 

"Well," Patton said, "you have a crush on Logan, so I don't really see why you're making such a big deal out of that." 

Remus' eyes widened. Logan blushed profusely. 

"I- I mean-" 

"They don't," Logan interrupted, his voice a couple octaves higher. "And neither do I. We are close friends." 

" _I mean_ , are we though?" Remus said, raising an eyebrow, definitely hiding something. 

" _Yes_ , we are," Logan insisted, turning his head away to hide his blushing, to absolutely no avail. 

Patton's Ma held a hand out, forcing the rest of the group to stop. She glanced around the meadow, a frown forming on her face. 

"What's wrong?" Remus asked. 

Patton's Ma shushed them. 

There was a rustling in the flowers ahead, and for a few moments everything was silent, apart from the quiet blow of the wind around them. And then a huge gust of wind erupted from the floor, and the six of them instinctively jumped into battle, several wind spirits shooting their way. Patton and his mothers began to shoot flowers at it again, and Remus surged forward and waved their mace wildly around them, not really doing much but trying their best. Logan rose a few metres into the sky and summoned light around him, throwing the wind spirits away from him. Virgil raised his hands, the cloud at his feet growing, until he heard a song, a familiar voice in the distance. 

Frowning, he turned to the side, noticing a figure standing a little away from him, motioning him closer. Entranced by the song, he began to walk in the figures direction, trying to figure out why he recognised it, why he recognised _her_. It was... 

"Mother?" he breathed, tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. It was her, he was sure of that. She had the same purple dress, the same long black hair, the same purple eyes and kind smile. She reached out a hand towards Virgil, and he took it, allowing her to pull him into an embrace. This... He'd been waiting for this, for so long. 

"Virgil," she whispered, running her hands through his hair. She was taller than him, his head just about rested on her chest, and he felt like a child again, like everything was exactly the same as before he left. Like she was here besides him, comforting him after his siblings would taunt him, letting him know just how much she loved him, that she'd support him even through her and everyone else's fear. "I've been waiting for you." 

"Mum," he said, clinging onto the back of her dress. He could barely wrap his arms around her waist, and she only seemed to be getting bigger, or maybe he was getting smaller. "I love you." 

She said nothing in return. That didn't sit right with Virgil. She'd never... leave him hanging like this. She always told him that she loved him too, or that she loved him more, or at the very least react to his statement. But she didn't. She just hugged tighter, or- or _gripped_ tight, digging her fingernails into Virgil's back. That wasn't right. _This_ wasn't right. 

Virgil drew away, looking up at his mother's face. She was at least three times his height now, which wasn't right, wasn't right at all. He'd grown so much since he last saw her, and even as a child he wasn't this small. _She'd_ always been small, anyway. And... And she couldn't be here, she was gone, wasn't she? She'd been gone for a while. It wasn't... He'd seen her grave, she didn't just _move_ to Lanamia, and... and she wouldn't be wandering around Dyra. She shouldn't be here, how was she- 

The world grew dark around him. It wasn't his cloud, either. It was... something else, coming from his mother. She was staring into the distance, no longer acknowledging Virgil's presence. And- And it _looked_ like her, it looked _exactly_ like her, but it couldn't have been her, it... 

He pushed away from her, falling to the ground. The darkness around him began to push in on him, forcing him to his knees. He breathed in and out, as well as he could, but his breath was growing shallow. And everything was cold, his body had begun to shake. He hugged his chest tight, glancing back up at his 'mother', but... she was gone. Someone else stood in his place. 

His father. He was still shaking, but for entirely different reasons now. There was noise, loud shouting, all around him, echoing around his brain, and he didn't understand any of it, didn't _want_ to listen, but he _knew_ that whatever it was... it was angry. The- His father was angry, again, just like always. Virgil had messed up, he always messed up, and the darkness around him was pushing in further, drowning him, and maybe it was _his_ darkness, and- 

He felt a sharp pain in his side, then on his cheek, then all over. The shouting only got louder, more voices joining, more people attacking. Some words began to stick out - horrible, destructive, _evil_. He curled up into a ball, trying to shield himself from the attackers, trying his very hardest not to cry. He clamped his hands over his ears to attempt to block out the noise, but everything only got louder. He breathed in and out, in and out. In. And out. Until he could barely breathe anymore. 

His cloud completely covered him now, seeping into his skin. This was it. He- He couldn't- 

Something landed on his shoulder. A hand. A soft, gentle hand. And then a voice. Not the voices from before, not the angry voices, not the loud voices, just... a kind voice, a soft voice, a gentle voice. Patton. 

The darkness faded away, his cloud settling close to the ground besides him. He gasped for air, taking several deep breaths until everything was under control. And then he sank into Patton's arms, clinging onto them tight. He was safe, with them, away from... from all of that. From everything he'd faced in the past. 

"Shh," Patton said, quietly, rocking Virgil's back and forth in their arms. "You're okay. It's okay." 

It wasn't okay. It couldn't be okay. He was attacked, and his cloud had- he had- 

"It's okay," Patton repeated, over and over. "You're not hurt. It isn't real, alright? You're okay." 

It... wasn't real. Had all of that been an illusion? Patton's mothers had said something about that, about beings that could alter reality, maybe... 

Virgil wasn't in a good mindset, he knew that. He'd known that for a while. After everything that happened, after everything that _still_ happened every single day, how could he be? He wasn't welcome back home, he'd _never_ been welcome back home, things weren't _much_ better at the Academy, he... He thought that maybe now that he had Patton, everything would be better, but that wasn't how life worked. Patton wouldn't just fix everything. Moving to Lanamia wouldn't fix everything. Forgetting about his past wouldn't fix anything. 

He clung to Patton for a while longer, crying onto their shoulder, until he was finally calm enough to pull away, his face still stained with tears. The fighting besides him had stopped, and the others were nowhere to be seen. Patton seemed to understand Virgil's alarm at that. 

"Don't worry," they said. "The others have gone to the next safe point. After we took down the wind spirits, my mothers came to fight off the spirit on you, and then let me handle it from there. We can catch up with them, okay?" 

Virgil nodded slowly. "Yeah. Okay." 

"Do you need a moment?" 

Virgil glanced down to the floor, then nodded again. 

"Okay." 

They let Virgil move away from them, sitting cross legged on the floor. He breathed in and out a few more times, and wiped away his tears, trying to make himself look more presentable. Patton seeing him like this was fine, he trusted them enough to do so, but... he didn't want the others to know just how much of a mess he was. After wrapping his jacket tighter around him, he looked back up at Patton and gave them a small smile. 

"Really?" 

He nodded. Patton stood up, then helped Virgil get up to his feet, before beginning their journey towards the others, hand in hand. Although he knew that Patton wasn't the _solution_ to his problem, he sure was glad that he had Patton besides him, supporting him. His first real friend, and... his first partner, as well. Someone he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, someone who he trusted with every ounce of his being. 

"Do you... want to talk about what happened?" Patton asked, carefully. 

Virgil sighed. "Not really." 

"Oh. That's okay." 

He stared at the floor for a moment, before sighing again. "Maybe. I... I don't know." 

"You don't have to tell me everything," Patton promised, "but if you need to talk through it, I'm here, y'know? We've still got a long walk before we're with the others." 

Virgil tapped the side of his leg. "I saw her. My... My mother. And my father, actually. They..." He breathed in. "I miss her." 

Patton squeezed his hand. "I'm... sorry." 

"Don't be." Virgil bit his lip. "I- I don't think I'm quite... over all the stuff that happened. With my family and with the Academy and- Y'know, everything, I guess." 

"It's okay," Patton reassured him. "There's nothing wrong with that. You have your entire life to figure it all out." 

"Yeah..." He breathed in. "I just... want all this to be over. I want to be happy. And not have to worry about my family, or about what people think about me, or... or about anything." 

"That..." Patton hummed. "I don't think it's possible to not worry about anything. You've been through a lot, Virgil. If... If all that sticks with you, it's fine. You can get through it. Life will become better." 

Virgil smiled. "Yeah. I... I hope so." 


	49. Chapter 49

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: disturbing imagery, character death (imagined), imprisonment, verging on unsympathetic!roman due to manipulation

That was Declan. Roman was _sure_ that it was Declan. Locked up, in the same prison he'd previously been held in. He supposed he wasn’t being held in that prison anymore, although still kinda... held captive. He couldn’t _leave_ Ignebris, or wherever he was, and he probably wouldn’t be allowed out of the Dragon Witch’s sight, but... surely things were a _little_ different now. 

He had the tattoo. The Dragon Witch tattoo, the sign of Ignebris. He... wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He _hated_ it, of course, who _was_ he if he _didn’t_ hate it, but... he couldn’t help but feel as if this was _right_. His magic consisted entirely of fire, it was destructive, maybe being on the bad side was right. He- He was good, he knew he was good, but... what if he wasn’t? 

No. He was. He had to tell himself that, over and over. If he wasn’t good, then what was he? He had to be good. One day, he would be King, and he _didn’t_ want to be an evil king, a tyrannical king. And... he had Declan, he didn’t want to lose Declan. 

So he couldn’t join the Dragon Witches. Not really. He couldn’t _allow_ himself to lose himself. 

The Dragon Witch led him to a large arena, where she went to stand in the middle and gestured for Roman stand a little way away from her. She faced him, a smirk on her face. 

“I supposed now we begin your training,” she said. 

Roman glanced around. The arena was completely empty, asides from the two of them, but there was a seating area around the edge, a place for an audience. That unsettled him - did people _watch_ these training sessions? Or was this arena used for something else? 

“You’ve fought Dragon Witches before, correct?” she asked. 

Roman nodded, looking back towards her. “That’s kind of my job.” 

“Brilliant.” She smiled. “Forget everything that the Academy taught you.” 

Roman frowned. “What?” 

“They taught you to hold back, save your magic, care for the environment around you,” the Dragon Witch continued. “Your magic can’t work like that. Fire is destructive, I’m sure you know. _Use that_.”

Roman didn’t want to destroy anything. Kill the Dragon Witch, sure, but... 

“Fight me,” the Dragon Witch instructed. “Don’t hold back.” 

Roman blinked. “I, uh, don’t have my sword, so-“ 

“You don’t _need_ your sword, Roman,” the Dragon Witch said. “You have _incredible_ power. Use _that_ instead. Use your magic.” 

Roman breathed in. He told himself that he was doing this just to get back at the Dragon Witch, maybe defeat her and run. If he knocked her down (or killed her, he supposed), he could escape, grab Declan, and return to his life. He’d defeated Dragon Witches so many times before - granted, he’d always had the rest of his friends with him, but that was besides the point - and this one was letting him take the first hit. It would be almost too easy. 

Yes, he was doing this just to get away from her. Not because he wanted to know what he could do. 

He raised his hands and shot a beam of flames towards the Dragon Witch, hitting her directly in the chest. It was harsh, and hot, and powerful, white hot, but it did nothing. She just continued smirking at him, with that sickening grin. 

“Is that all you’ve got?” she taunted, not even _moving_. 

Roman lowered his hand, panting. It had taken a lot of energy to do that, and it had done _nothing_. 

The Dragon Witch shot towards him and grabbed his neck, pushing him back against the ground. Roman struggled in her grasp, trying to get away, but to no avail. She gripped tighter, her hands growing hotter by the second. He kicked, trying to get her off him, but nothing happened. So he tried something else. In one of his hands, he summoned a flame, and shoved it against her side. She winced, and, for a moment, let go of him. Roman breathed, rubbing his neck.

“What the _fuck_ was that for?” Roman exclaimed. 

She clutched her side where Roman had touched her, and Roman noticed that he had left a burn mark, completely scorching off a few scales. But still, she smiled. “Just to see what you’d do.” 

Roman scrambled up to his feet. “Did I... uh, did I do good?” He didn’t know why he cared, why he even wanted to know. He shouldn’t have cared about what she thought. He wanted to know, _desperately_ wanted to know, _needed_ to know. 

She just nodded. “Well, you’re still alive.” 

Roman tried to stop himself from smiling. It didn’t work. 

~*~ 

“Are we nearly there yet?” Remus asked, for what felt like the hundredth time. 

“Yes,” Patton said, staring ahead. “Not long now.” 

The sun was setting overhead, casting an orange glow over the meadow. It was calming in a way, Remus supposed, but it didn’t make them any less antsy. Walking was good and all, but it had been a couple hours since their last fight, and they just wanted to be in Caetus already, but the border seemed so _far away_. 

They wondered what Roman was doing right now. And Declan. Roman was probably trapped in a cage and Declan would be going to rescue him, or maybe Declan had already saved him and they were on their way back. Remus kind of hoped that they were - as much as their brother annoyed them to no end, they still wanted him to be alright. And he wouldn’t be alright trapped with a Dragon Witch. 

Out the corner of their eye, they saw a red light, wings fluttering in the distance. Humming, they turned to face the source, noticing-

Their eyes widened. They grabbed Logan’s arm, trying to get his attention. 

“What?” Logan asked, looking at Remus with confusion. 

“Dragon Witch,” Remus breathed. 

Logan blinked. “Remus, there’s no Dragon Witches around here.” 

“No, sh- she’s right there!” 

“ _Nobody_ is there, Remus.”

“But-“ 

Patton’s Mum stopped walking. “There’s another spirit.” 

Remus stepped away from the group. It... That wasn’t a spirit, was it? That was a Dragon Witch, right there, staring into their soul, the tattoo flickering with real fire, mocking them. They gripped their mace tighter, preparing for the upcoming battle, even if it was only _them_ prepared to fight, trying to ignore how much their body shaked and their mind screamed. 

The Dragon Witch was approaching them. They felt a sharp pain on their arm, like something was piecing through it, blood pouring out their body. Before the Dragon Witch even got near, they were on the floor, tears forming in the corners of their eyes. Their grip around their mace loosened, the weapon falling to the floor with a crash. A pool of their poison began to grow around them, some making its way towards the Dragon Witch but ultimately doing nothing. They could _barely_ move their limbs. 

But then there was fighting. Punches and kicks and blinding flashes of light. It was... It was Logan. The Dragon Witch soon laid dead on the floor, and Logan sat besides them, grabbing their shoulders, trying to speak to them. They couldn’t hear him. And the Dragon Witch was shifting, still dead but... not her anymore. 

Roman. Roman laid on the floor, in a pool of his own blood, flames emitting off his stomach. And then their parents around him, mourning him, and- and Remus' body in the distance, in a pool of poison, with... with no one around. Abandoned. More people gathered around Roman, and Remus’ body was kicked away, swallowed by the ground. 

But Logan was still besides them, his voice muffled but still there, a hand on their shoulder. They sank into Logan’s arms, trying not to think about the poison leaking out their own skin and into Logan’s. And then tears came out, more poison, burning their face. Their- Their poison had never affected them before, why- 

“Remus,” Logan’s voice said. “You’re okay. It’s gone.” 

Remus breathed in. Logan’s presence was good, comforting. They wanted to kiss him, hug him tighter, but restrained themself - now wasn’t the time, was it? 

The scene around them was slowly faded, as Remus returned to reality. The poison around him faded as well, and those poison tears turned into actual tears, and... things were better. They were with Logan. Things were fine. 

~*~ 

Declan paced back and forth around the cage, in front of Emile and Remy growing increasingly afraid. 

“The Dragon Witch must be hurting him,” he muttered. “She was taking him _somewhere_ , why-“ 

“We’re not going to save him in here,” Emile said, quietly. “We should be trying to get out, right?” 

Declan stopped pacing and looked out the cage, trying to examine the surroundings. There were no visible guards, but no easy way out either. He hummed. There- There must be a way, right? 

He saw guards approaching in the distance and instinctively turned invisible. The guards opened the cage, seeming a little confused at only seeing Remy and Emile, but apparently not thinking too much of it. They placed some food down on the floor, before turning to leave. Taking his chance whilst he could, Declan slipped out the cage and waited just outside, appearing again once the guards had walked far away. 

He turned back to face the cage, looking in at Remy and Emile. “Stay here. I’m going to get Roman. We’ll be back for you.” 

Before they had a chance to reply or object, Declan turned invisible again and made his way down the hall, towards where he had previously seen Roman. He walked for a while through the winding corridors of the dungeons, until he came across an arena, where... 

Roman! Roman was right there, in the middle, fighting the Dragon Witch. Yes! He was- He was trying to save himself, wasn’t he? He was trying to kill the Dragon Witch to escape, he was- 

He... He had the tattoo. The Dragon Witch tattoo. _Why_ did he have the Dragon Witch tattoo? 

“Roman?” Declan said, stepping into the room. 

Roman turned around, eyes widening upon seeing Declan. “Declan? You-“ His eyes turned white and flames danced around his body. That... That wasn’t right. “What are you doing here?” 

Declan frowned. “I- I came to save you, Roman, you-“ 

A sword grew in his hand, made out of flames. Declan drew their sword and got into a defensive stance as Roman surged towards him, immediately going for the offensive. How Roman had made the sword appear out of thin air and _why_ he was suddenly attacking Declan, he didn’t know. But he _did_ know that Roman could be ruthless in battle, and _had_ harmed Declan before, so this situation wasn’t to be taken lightly. 

Perhaps he was under the Dragon Witch’s control. Or... perhaps he had joined the Dragon Witches. That would explain the tattoo. Except... no, Roman wouldn’t. That wasn’t like him at all. 

Their two swords clashed together in mid air and the two launched into battle, attacking and blocking and dancing around each other as they always did. But this time seemed different - there was something else in Roman’s expression, an anger almost, a... _resentment_. And Roman wasn’t holding back like he usually did. They’d only been fighting for a few short minutes, but Declan could already feel cuts appearing on his skin, burns all over his arms. 

No, this was fine, everything was fine. Roman would _never_ hurt him intentionally. Those injuries were probably from before, from the battles he’d passed in Divitunia, from when the guards had arrested him. 

And Declan could beat Roman. He always did. He knew Roman’s fighting style, could predict what he’d do. If he could get Roman down and just... _flirt_ with him for a little while, the fight was as good as won. Declan pushed forward, knocked Roman’s sword out the way and shoved him to the ground, before holding his own sword up to Roman’s neck. He knew that was Roman’s weakness - seeing Declan like that, powerful, standing tall and proud. 

But the fight wasn’t over. Roman knocked Declan’s sword out the way, with nothing but a flame, and jumped up to his feet, summoning his own sword again and grabbing Declan’s shoulder, gripping on tight. Roman held his sword right up at Declan’s neck, the flames burning his skin. Declan breathed in and out. Roman wasn’t backing away. 

“Okay, my prince, you’ve won,” Declan said, slowly and quietly. “The fight’s over. You can drop the sword now.” 

Roman stared at him, hard, with those pure white eyes. That wasn’t right. He dug the sword in further, so close to drawing blood. 

“Roman,” Declan said. “This isn’t you. You don’t want to hurt me.” Declan cringed at how shaky his voice was. 

For a moment, Roman’s eyes flickered back to normal, but they turned white again. He lowered his sword to his side, but kept a tight grip on Declan’s shoulder. 

“It’s me, Roman,” Declan said. “Declan. Your knight. I’m here to save you. Remember?” 

Roman’s eyes turned back to normal. He looked at Declan in fear and let go. Declan breathed out. He reached down for Roman’s hand. 

“C’mon, we need to get out of here.” 

Roman glanced back at the Dragon Witch, fallen to the floor and clutching her forehead, before turning back to Declan and nodding. The two ran, back through the winding corridors of the dungeon towards Remy and Emile’s cage. Roman shot a burst of fire at the cage, creating a hole for the two of them to climb out of, before the four continued to run, back through the Palace and the city and out of Ignebris, refusing to let any of the guards stop them. They would just keep running and running until they were safe, until they _knew_ they were free.


	50. Chapter 50

The end of Dyra was in sight, and Patton was trying their hardest to shake off that weird feeling. They'd been here before, the edge of Dyra where the flowers began to die, where the wind took over. They could already feel the wind blowing through their hair - and not from a wind spirit, either. From the mountain. It was so, so close. 

They were beginning to get cold, as well. They hugged themself in an attempt to warm themself up, and silently chided themself for not wearing warmer clothes. They knew that it'd be colder up in Caetus, nowhere near as sunny as Lanamia. 

Virgil wrapped an arm around them, holding them tight. Patton smiled gratefully - Virgil was warm, and soft, and really Patton was just happy to be in his presence. They glanced around at the others, wondering how everyone else was doing just fine - Virgil has his jacket, they supposed, and Logan was suited more for colder climates. Remus was... running around a lot, probably warmer from the constant activity. 

"Will you four be alright?" Patton's Mum asked, slowing down her walk a little. 

Logan nodded. "We'll be fine. This is our job, Ma'am." 

She still seemed skeptical.

"Don't worry, Mum!" Patton said, cheerfully. "We can handle ourselves!" 

"Alright, if you say so," she said, relaxing a little. 

"Sure you don't want us to come with you?" Patton's Ma asked. 

Patton shook their head. "You two need to stay here to help in Dyra, right?" 

She hummed. "Yes. Of course." 

"You'll keep in contact with us, right?" Patton's Mum checked. 

"We'll try," Patton said. "Might be difficult since we're on the road, but as soon as I can I'll send you a letter." 

"Good." They stopped walked. The group was right at the border now. Any further, and they'd be out of Lanamia. 

Patton tore away from Virgil's arms and ran up to his mothers, enclosing them both in a hug. They hugged back, a final goodbye before Patton had to let go. They didn't say goodbye, not out loud, knowing that they'd be seeing each other again soon anyway. _Hoping_ that they’d see each other soon. The two mothers walked off, back towards the village on the other side of Dyra, as the other four continued their journey into Caetus. 

Stars now filled the sky and the sun had completely vanished behind the mountain. The flower would be right at the top, right? They imagined the journey up the mountain would be difficult, but... they could _do_ this! Patton had every faith in them, they knew that in the end things would turn out okay. 

"We should find shelter," Logan said, moving to the front of the group to take the lead again. "Wait until morning before we start the climb." 

Remus ran ahead, jumping over fallen down trees and looking around the area. Eventually, they turned again and grinned at the group. "There's a cave here. Seems stable." 

Logan nodded. "Perfect." The four of them made their way into the cave, heading further underground. It seemed _somewhat_ safe and sturdy, although a part of Patton did worry. It was... certainly better than just camping out in the wild, especially when it seemed like there was a storm brewing, but they were afraid that the cave could collapse, or that _something else_ might be in there. 

Logan released some balls of light to the ceiling of the cave, as the four of them sat down in the centre. Patton took some food out their bag - a little bit of leftover pie their mothers had given them - and shared it out with the group, who then ate in silence before deciding it was time for sleep. Remus was the first - they snuggled up to Logan’s side, who looked a little uncomfortable but allowed them to do so anyway. Soon after, Logan fell asleep with them, leaving just Patton and Virgil to talk. 

Virgil hummed. "You get some sleep, Pat. I can take first watch." 

Patton shook their head. "No, I'll be fine. You go to sleep." 

"Patton." 

"Seriously, you need some rest." 

"So do you." 

"How about you go to sleep, and I wake you up in a bit?" Patton suggested. 

Virgil sighed. 

"Okay, uh..." Patton smiled. "We could both stay up?" 

Virgil glared at them for a moment, before softening. "Yeah, okay, sure." 

The two shuffled to the edge of the cave, looking out across the barren landscape of Caetus. Long abandoned, long left for dead. They imagined that once upon a time this place was bustling with life, overgrown with vegetation, a beautiful paradise just like Logan had said. People lived here, or used to live here, so it couldn't have always been like... this. Perhaps people had left once the wind spirits had gotten out of control. Maybe _that_ was why Dyra was beginning to get out of control. 

Patton nestled their head into Virgil's chest, as the two of them looked up at the stars. Even if the landscape itself was looking pretty bad, at least the view of the sky was still stunning. Clouds were forming in the distance, but close by Patton could see the moon and the stars clearly, and for a moment they felt at peace. Virgil let them fall down into his lap and they closed their eyes, falling asleep as Virgil stroked through their hair. 

~*~ 

Patton jolted awake to the sound of Logan shouting, an attempt to get them up. Underneath them, Virgil groaned, but sat up, pushing Patton off him. 

"C'mon, we need to move as quickly as possible," Logan said, clapping his hands. "Those clouds in the distance don't look too good, we need to get up the mountain before the storm reaches us." 

After standing up himself, Virgil helped Patton to his feet, then turned to Logan and asked, "Do you even know _how_ to get up the mountain?" 

"There used to be a path," Logan stated. "If I remember correctly, the trail didn't start too far from the Lanamian border." 

"And where exactly does this trail take us?" Virgil asked. 

Logan shrugged. "Truthfully, I don't know much about it. But it should take us around the mountains and _hopefully_ to the peak, where this flower should supposedly be." 

"We know _nothing_ about this flower," Virgil said. "Don't you think we should have _some_ sort of plan." 

Logan fell silent. 

Patton hummed. "Hey, maybe you could ask the stars? Or use your arms?" 

Logan perked up. "Oh! Of course." He took out a pen and began to draw on his arm, the group watching him quietly until he was done. "Alright. It... looks like a sort of map." He looked up. "Follow me." 

Logan led them out of the cave and around the perimeter of the mountain, until they came across an entrance to some sort of road, a destroyed brick path leading up the mountain. It didn't look entirely stable, and pieces of the path were missing, but it was better than nothing. The group followed the trail up, Logan occasionally glancing down at his arm and drawing something new. The trail stretched out in front of them, weaving its way through the rocks and hills, occasionally through a small tunnel.

They'd been walking for a while, in complete silence, and still seemed nowhere near their destination. They barely seemed to be off ground level. But Patton had faith, they believed that Logan would lead them in the right direction. Everything would be just fine. 

Patton frowned. They... recognised this tunnel. Huh. 

"Hey, uh, Logan?" they said. 

Logan glanced back at them. "Yeah?" 

"Uh, not that I don't have total faith in you, but, uh, I think we may be walking in circles," Patton said. 

Logan stopped. He let his arm fall to his side as he looked around, a frown growing on his face. "Oh. It... appears we are." 

Virgil groaned. "Great. _Just_ great." 

"I-I mean, I'm sure it's fine," Patton said, optimistically. "Maybe it... means we're in the right place?" 

"It _means_ we're _lost_ ," Virgil snapped. The cloud around his feet was growing again, which concerned Patton to no end. He had been doing so well, but... 

"Maybe we should ask one of the locals!" Remus exclaimed, running out in front of Logan. 

Logan sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Remus, I swear to all the gods if you try to converse with one of the wind spirits-" 

Patton's eyes widened. Remus was going to talk to one of the locals, and... and it wasn't a wind spirit. It was a person, a real person, but... with wings. And feathers. A bird, almost, but with a sort of human face. Intrigued, Patton approached them. 

"Hey," Patton said, coming up besides Remus, "we're a little lost, do you think you could-" 

The local shot up into the air, flying away from the two of them. Well. There goes _that_ idea. 

"What was that?" Virgil asked, catching up with the group. 

"They must have been a native," Logan said, also joining the group. "I... know that there used to be a lot more people living here, but thought most had already died out. No one hears of anything going on in Caetus." After no one replied, Logan continued, “We should keep moving.” 

However, before they had a chance to continue their journey down the winding (or circling) road, another local landed in front of them. Two locals, three, a whole flock. The four glanced at each other, wondering what to make of it. 

“What are you doing in Caetus?” one asked, stepping forward. 

Logan cleared his throat. “We are travellers from the Academy. The Silvalan King is ill, and we are currently on a mission to save him. We believe there may be something here that can help him, on the highest peak. 

The locals exchanged a glance, before turning back to the group. “Come with us.”


	51. Chapter 51

The locals led them to a village off the side of the mountain, houses built on floating rocks above the clouds, with no bridges connecting them. One grabbed Virgil and flapped her wings, shooting up into the sky to carry him to a platform in the centre - which Virgil wasn't particularly happy about, flying was _not_ something he ever wanted to do again. His friends soon followed and landed besides him, Logan floating over by himself. 

Virgil rubbed his arms, in the spot where the Caeti had grabbed him, before stepping back towards the group. "Okay, uh, mind explaining what's going on?" 

"We don't get many travellers here," one local said, stepping forward. "What are _you_ doing here?" 

Virgil could feel everyone staring at him. Not just those who had brought him here, but people on other platforms, craning their necks to see what was going on. There was an entire _community_ of people here, with their own lives and hopes and dreams, and the outside world knew _nothing_ of it. Why weren't there any Caeti at the Academy? Why hadn't he been _told_ about all of this? 

"As I said before," Logan said, "we're here to search for something at the peak. A cure." 

She shook her head. "No. People don't just come to Caetus for that. You want something." 

"We want the _cure_ ," Logan reiterated. 

Virgil fiddled with the edges of his sleeves. "Logan, buddy, maybe we should just go-" It didn't seem like they were welcome here, anyway. The people staring at them seemed almost... afraid. Of course, that could have something to do with the cloud steadily growing around his legs, moving a lot higher up that usual, but surely there was something else at play as well. If these people were so isolated, chances were they didn't know much about Virgil's powers, or any of the others for that matter. 

"What makes you think there's a cure here?" the Caeti asked. 

Logan hesitated. "Well, uh, in truth, we aren't sure. We just..." 

Remus began singing. That lullaby again. The one she and Roman had sung together. About the flower in the mountains, one of the few clues they had. The Caeti looked at each other, exchanging curious glances. After the first verse, a few of the Caeti joined in. When it came to an end, Remus was grinning wildly. 

"Where did you learn that song?" another Caeti asked, stepped towards Remus. 

"It's a lullaby," she replied. "We sing it a lot back in Silvales." 

"It's a traditional song here," they continued. "I don't... I don't know why Silvales would know it as well." 

"Does that mean the flower is here?" Logan asked. 

The Caeti shrugged. "It's just a lullaby." 

"But the stars..." Logan cleared his throat. "Look, I can see the future, sort of. I can ask the stars and sometimes they'll show me things. When we were wondering about the cure, the stars showed me a mountain. This is the only place we could think of. So, can you help us?" 

The Caeti exchanged glances with one another again, before telling the group to wait a second and flying off. 

After a few moments of staring at them flying away, Virgil sat down on the ground. "Great. Guess we're stuck on a floating rock now." 

"Hey, no, we'll be okay," Patton said, sitting down next to him. Remus also joined, but Logan walked away to the edge, staring out into the abyss. 

"We have no way of getting off this rock," Virgil said. "We've _essentially_ been kidnapped." 

"Well, not really," Remus said. "We came here willingly. What happened to _Roman_ was a kidnapping." 

There was a brief silence. 

"Sorry," Remus said. "That may have been too soon." 

"It's fine, Remus," Patton said. "I... hope that he's okay, though." 

"Yeah. Me too." She sighed. For a moment, there was another silence, Remus considering her next words carefully, before she continued. "I saw him. Back in Dyra. When that... that spirit thing attacked." 

Patton raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" 

"I'm worried about him," Remus said. 

For a moment, Patton looked a little sad, before recomposing themself and plastering on a small smile. "The spirits don't show you anything real. I'm sure he's fine." 

"He was dead, when I saw him," Remus continued, her voice beginning to shake a little. "And, um, I- I haven't been able to... feel him, recently. Like, I don't feel his presence at all, no matter how hard I try to... connect to him." 

Virgil snorted. " _Feel his presence_?" 

"He's my twin," Remus said. "Usually I can... tell how he feels or if he's in trouble, but I can't feel him at all. I can't help but think that- that he's-" 

"I'm sure he's fine, Remus," Patton interrupted, desperately trying to keep the mood up. "The Dragon Witch wouldn't do anything to him, right?" 

Remus locked her eyes on the floor. She looked as though she wanted to say something more, but she held back. Virgil wasn't sure what to make of that. 

"Patton's right," Logan said, finally joining them. "Roman is far too valuable. They wouldn't kill him. They probably want him alive, perhaps to hold as ransom." 

"I know, I know," Remus said. "I just..." 

The Caeti landed on the rock again, causing the ground beneath Virgil to shake a little. He grabbed the ground below him, in a weak attempt to maintain his balance and sanity. 

"We can take you there," one said, "but... getting to the flower won't be so simple." 

~*~

A _dragon_. They'd have to fight a fucking _dragon_. 

The Caeti had carried the four of them back to the mountain and led them up to the peak, where this flower was supposedly meant to be, but on the entire journey they hadn't mentioned _anything_ about a dragon. 

It looked different to the previous dragon they'd fought. Scales of pure white, with a mane of silky hair running down its spine. Its long body wrapped around the peak of the mountain, claws digging into the rock. A pair of small, feathered wings extended out its back. It appeared to be sleeping, but Virgil couldn't help but notice the icy breath blowing out its nose, and the sharp talons occasionally causing a piece of the mountain to break off and fall to the floor near the group.

"So, what, we gotta kill it?" Remus asked. 

One of the Caeti shook her head. "No. It's peaceful, it protects the mountain." 

"Boring," Remus moaned. 

" _Remus_ ," Patton chided. "We don't have to kill _everything_ , y'know." 

"How are we supposed to get to the flower without killing it, though?" Remus asked. 

"There are ways to subdue it," the Caeti said. "You can fight it without killing it, perhaps make it go away whilst you go and retrieve the flower." 

"How about you distract it?" Logan suggested. "You guys can fly, get it to go away while we get the flower." 

They shook their heads. "We're not getting involved," one said. 

Virgil frowned. "Why not?" 

"We just- This isn't really anything to do with us-" 

"Yet you're so concerned about us hurting it." There was something else going on here, Virgil could feel it. 

"It's an old god," Logan whispered. He turned to face the Caeti. "You guys worship it, don't you?" 

One nodded. "Yes. We... can't fight it." 

"I understand." Logan sighed. "You can leave it up to us. We promise we won't hurt it." 

They smiled. "Thank you." One by one, the Caeti left, leaving the four of them alone on the mountain. 

"Great job, Logan, you just lost our help," Remus groaned. 

"They wouldn't have done anything," Logan said, "but we can." 

"But we're not allowed to _fight_ it," Remus said. 

"We don't have to fight it," Logan said. "We just need to get to the flower." 

"It's not gonna let us get to the flower, though," Virgil said. "It's _protecting_ it." 

"We can do it," Logan said, beginning to walk towards the dragon. "Just... follow my lead." 

Reluctantly, the other three followed Logan down a winding path through the cliffs, slowly moving higher and higher through the mountain. The dragon continued to sleep, looking almost peaceful, but Virgil was still filled with the feeling of dread. He couldn't help but feel like this would not end well. 

Stars filled the sky, the moon rising up over the mountains. It was still a long walk up to the peak - Virgil imagined that it would be morning by the time they made it there, it already must have been half way through the night. 

The dragon shuffled in its spot, causing a few rocks to come tumbling down the mountain, heading straight towards the group. Eyes widening, Virgil thrust out his hands, summoning his cloud to block the rocks, pushing them back into the air. Wow. He didn't know he could do that. He let go of his cloud and watched the rocks fall into the abyss below. 

Logan glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "That's new." 

"Yeah." Virgil stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Let's just... keep moving." 

The group continued to move through the mountains, slowing down as they got closer to the dragon. Occasionally Virgil would use his newfound powers to push a rock back, and occasionally Logan himself would call on the stars to help too. 

The dragon woke up. 

The group froze, desperately hoping that the dragon wouldn't see them. It repositioned itself so that its head was stuck up in the air, glancing around. An icy blue eye landed on Virgil. The dragon roared. Logan screamed at them to run. 

Rocks now falling either side of them and icy droplets beginning to fall, stinging and cutting their faces upon contact, the four of them ran, trying to ignore the slippery floor beneath them. The dragon had begun to fly now, circling around the mountain and occasionally blowing cold air in their direction. 

Virgil slipped. The path was getting thinner now, the closer they got to the peak, and Virgil was now hanging off the side, clinging onto the cliff for dear life. Patton leant down and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him back up but struggling. Behind him, Logan helped to pull Virgil up as well, whilst Remus worked on keeping the dragon distracted, fighting it off with her poison. 

"Don't hurt it!" Logan called, as Virgil got back to his feet. 

"It's trying to hurt _us_ , Logan!" Remus retorted. 

"Because we're _attacking_ it!" 

"We're not!" Remus shouted. "We were just walking, the _dragon_ is the one who initiated it!" She threw another ball of poison at the dragon, melting off a few of its scale. The dragon cried out in pain. 

Patton sent up a few flowers, healing the slowly growing wound before it took too much damage. For a moment, the dragon calmed down a little, before continuing its attack. 

"Carry on," Logan said to Patton. 

"Huh?" 

" _Carry on._ " 

Looking just a little confused, Patton continued to throw flowers at the dragon, the petals exploding into smaller flowers upon contact. And with each and every flower, the dragon settled down more and more, until eventually flying away and nestling onto another peak, far away from the group. The four of them collectively let out a sigh of relief. 

"Alright," Logan said, "let's find this flower, shall we?" 

They continued their journey up the mountain, the icy path slowly replaced by mist and greenery, leading up to a clearing. The yellow sky stretched out in front of them as the sun rose over Caetus, over the highest peak. A waterfall fell down the side of one cliff, leading into a small pool, and a stretch of grass following the clearing. Smiling, they stepped inside, glancing around. They soon lost their smiles. 

"It's... not here," Patton said, frowning. 

" _Yellow sky_ ," Logan muttered. " _Morning mist._ It should be here. Why isn't it here?" 

"No, surely it's here," Patton said. "Maybe it's just..." 

"It's not here, buddy," Virgil said, quietly. "We got the wrong place." 

Breathing in and out, Logan ran off, out an exit on the other side of the clearing. Remus quickly followed. Patton and Virgil exchanged a concerned, frightened glance. What were they supposed to do now?


	52. Chapter 52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: brief discussion of sex (nothing explicit)

Remus watched Logan from the cliff above, watched him storm down to the edge and sit, his head buried in his hands. She glanced back at the group behind her, before closing her eyes and jumping down to the same level as Logan, rushing to his side. 

"Logan-" 

"Fuck off, Remus." 

Remus stopped in her path, breathing heavily. Logan never swore. She didn't back away, though, instead just staying a few metres behind Logan, almost afraid that he'd explode if she got any closer. Stars were floating around Logan's head, some bashing into each other to create mini explosions of light. 

"It's my fault," Logan murmured, lifting his head up and looking out across the mountain range. 

Remus frowned. "What's your fault?" 

"This. All of this. I-" He stopped. 

Remus stepped a little closer and Logan didn't seem to mind. "Listen, Logan, it isn't your fault. You couldn't have known-" 

"I _should_ have known, though."

"It's _okay_ to be wrong." Remus was besides him now, right at the edge of the cliff. The sun set across the horizon, casting an orange glow onto their skin. She sat down next to him. 

"But we _wasted_ time. We could- We could've used this time for-" 

"We didn't waste time, Logan." Remus sighed. "No time is wasted. Maybe it wasn't here, but that's okay. That just means we've lowered down the possible locations by one." 

"This was the only place it could be." Logan was crying. Tears streamed down his face, washing away the ink connecting some of his freckles. It took all of Remus' willpower to stop herself from reaching over and wiping them away. 

"Okay, so, say we don't find the flower, what's the big deal?" Remus said, her legs swinging off the cliff. 

That just seemed to upset Logan even more. 

Remus smiled, softly. "Logan. It _doesn't matter_ if we don't find it." 

"But- Your father-" 

Remus let out a short, sharp laugh. "You think I give a fuck about that asshole?" 

Logan blinked. "He's your father." 

"Yeah, and he never cared about me, so honestly I don't care about him." Remus shrugged. "He can die for all I care. He will die, of course, if we don't find this flower. So maybe not finding it is actually a good thing-" 

"But Roman-" 

Remus sighed. "Roman doesn't care either. He _pretends_ to. Maybe he wants to, because Father gave him more attention, I guess, but... Listen, Roman can't wait for that bastard to die." 

Logan looked down. 

Remus gently took his hand. "Listen. Father dies - so what? Roman becomes King, Declan gets a promotion, Patton and Virgil get married and move into that cottage in Lanamia, and me and you can move into a cabin in rural Nochae where you can continue your research and I can watch. It's a win-win for us all." 

Logan looked up, looking eyes with Remus. She couldn't help but stare into those eyes, that swirling galaxy of black and blue. "But we'd _lose_ the war." 

"Nope." Remus smirked. "The war would end, I guess, and maybe more of Ignebris' forces would make it out across the whole continent, but..." 

"That means we'd _lose_." 

"There aren't any losers in a war like this," Remus said. "The best thing for us would be for the war to end. Life would be the same, we'd just have a slightly different corrupt leader ruling over us." 

"We'd all be _dead_." 

"We'd _survive_ ," Remus promised. "We've survived this long. Maybe we could... give up on the Academy. We could build a life together _away_ from all this. No more war." 

Logan tore his eyes away from her, looking back down at the abyss below. "Is that what you want?" he said, quietly. 

Remus hesitated. "O-Of course. I just want us two to be happy, y'know?" She rubbed the back of her neck. 

"I... want that too, Remus," Logan admitted. "But... I don't know if I can give that to you, in the way that you want." 

"This has _nothing_ to do with my romantic feelings for you, Logan," Remus said. 

"I-I mean..." Logan breathed in. "I know you said that you're willing to wait, but... I don't..." 

"It's completely fine if you don't love me back," Remus said, not really thinking about it and half regretting it after. Because... if Logan _didn't_ like her back, in that way, she wasn't sure what she would do. Like, she'd probably be able to move on, but... Logan had said that he _loved_ her, and he'd _kissed_ her, and now... She didn't want to give all that up. But she didn't want to hurt Logan by holding on. 

"I do," Logan said. "I... really do love you, Remus. Just..." 

"Platonically?" Remus guessed. "Because, I mean, that's totally fine too. We can still move in together in a cabin in rural Nochae but, like, as friends-" 

"No." Logan sighed in frustration. "I... I think it's in a romantic sense. But I don't- I don't know." 

He shuffled away from Remus, holding his head in his hands and beginning to fiddle with plait, taking it out and redoing it over and over. Remus let him move, and didn't say a word, waiting for Logan to be ready to continue. 

"I..." He drummed his fingers on his legs. "I don't know if I _want_ that sort of relationship. Like... I want to be with you, don't get me wrong. I love you to pieces. You're my best friend, and I _do_ want to kiss you, sometimes, but... it scares me, alright?" 

"That's okay," Remus said, gently. "You don't... _We_ don't have to do that. We can... We can kiss whenever, I really don't care, but if you don't want a formal relationship that's fine too." 

"I _do_ , though, sorta." He groaned. "Sorry, feelings are... weird." He breathed in. Logan sat in silent consideration for a moment, before closing his eyes and speaking again, much faster and quieter than before. "You know I'm probably asexual, right?" 

Remus' face fell. Is- Is that what Logan had been so afraid of? Of course, Remus _hadn't_ known that, they'd never really talked about that before, but... well, she supposed it made sense. Culture in Nochae was different than in Silvales, Logan had talked about it a lot and Remus _knew_ that relationships weren't a massive thing over there, and she knew how much Logan had struggled moving to the Academy where people made a bigger deal out of romance, and sex, and gender, and all that stuff that the Nochees just... didn't care about. 

But she'd never have thought that that would be why Logan was acting this way. And now Logan seemed to be taking Remus' expression the wrong way, now that he looked up at Remus for... something, confirmation that Remus was still _okay_ with him, but... gods, Logan didn't know how to interpret emotions like this, Remus needed to- 

"Sorry," Logan said, quietly. "I... understand if that makes you feel different, or if that goes against what you wanted or whatever. I just... I hope we-" 

"Logan," Remus interpreted, "I literally could not give two shits about whether you want to have sex with me or not. That _isn't_ what I care about." 

Logan blinked. There was an awkward pause between them, stretching out for what felt like hours. "So... you'd still be interested in seeking a... 'romantic' relationship with me? Or even just a... close platonic relationship?" 

"Of _course_ I am, Logan," Remus said, scooping up Logan's hands in hers. "As I said before, my one dream in life is to move into a cabin with you in Nochae so you can continue your research and I can just watch you." 

A small smile crept onto Logan's face, and Remus melted. After a moment of staring at each other, Logan drew his hands away and looked back down at the clouds below him. "We still need to figure out what to do, though." 

Remus hummed. "Can you draw something?" 

"Maybe." Logan took out his pen and began to draw into his arm, eventually moving to his legs as he ran out of space. Remus watched him, entranced at the ink swirling over Logan's skin. Logan frowned, trying to make sense of whatever he was seeing, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to figure out anything. 

"This isn't working," Remus muttered. "Maybe... Patton can grow flowers, right?" 

Logan fiddled with the pen in his hand, pausing his drawing for a moment. "I don't think that's how it works, Remus." 

"But they can grow _healing_ flowers," Remus reminded him. 

Logan's skin started glowing. Eyes widening, he glanced down at his leg, frowning at the drawing. Remus scooter closer to Logan to get a better look, humming. Another flower - the same one. Except... it was different. A different pattern over the petals. One that Remus herself didn't recognise. 

"That's Dreta's sign. One of the old gods." He frowned. "Virgil talked to them. Maybe..." 

Some stars lifted off Logan's skin, spreading out into the air in front of him. He stood up, pulling Remus up with him. Some stars floated down from the sky as well, joining Logan's stars to create a scene in front of them. Two people battling against the snow - somewhere in Nochae, Remus thought - underneath a glowing, multicoloured strip of light, stretching out across the sky. They both released magic, pulling more in from the colours in the sky, and the magic combined on the floor, where... a flower grew. 

_The_ flower. The one Remus knew from the drawings in Silvales, and from Logan's arm. The one that could save her father. 

And the two people... 

"Patton and Virgil," Logan whispered. "They could... That could be them, right? Or they could _do_ that, at least." 

He continued to ramble for a while, Remus trying her hardest to listen but finding it difficult to follow. Something about the old gods, or current gods, and about the dangers of mixing magic but also about the opportunities of it. All Remus could think about was that they still had a _chance_ \- sure, she didn't particularly care about her father, but Roman did, sort of, and... she supposed she owed it to him. He'd been locked away in Ignebris this whole time, if they came back with nothing then... 

"The Soul Stream," Logan said, snapping Remus out of her thoughts. That was what Logan had been wanting to research this whole time, what he'd ranted to Remus about the most. She could understand this train of thought. "The Soul Stream is a large expanse of magic, Patton and Virgil could draw magic from it - that _must_ be what's in the scene, right?" 

Remus nodded. "Yeah! You must be right, Logan!" 

Logan grinned. "Well. I suppose this means we'll be taking a trip to Nochae." 

Remus gasped. "Oh, do we get to meet your family now?" 

"Oh, I don't have a family," Logan said. 

Remus blinked. "You... what?" Logan had _never_ mentioned that before. 

"Is that... a surprise to you?" Logan wondered. "You are aware of Nochae's culture regarding relationships, aren't you?" 

"Yeah, of course, but... you must have parents, right?" Remus said. "I mean, you're here. Like, are they dead, or...?" 

Logan shrugged. "I just kind of exist. When I was a child the village took care of me, as we do with all children, but, y'know, moved to the Academy and all." 

"But, like- somebody still had to give birth to you, didn't they?" 

"I'm made of _magic_ , Remus," Logan said. "Born of the stars. People don't... form those kinds of relationships in Nochae. Life is created from magic and people will take the life in. I was lucky, I suppose, having an entire village to take care of me, and living so close to the Soul Stream so I could start research at a young age, even before the Academy, but... I never really formed close bonds with anyone from the village. The- The closest thing to _family_ I have is you guys." 

Remus couldn't help but feel a _little_ sad at that, but... well, it wasn't anything she could change, and if that's just how things worked in Nochae then... well, Logan would be alright. So instead, she smiled. "Well, maybe we'll get to see your village, at least." 

Logan hummed. "Yes. I suppose so." 

After the stars returned down to Logan's skin, the two moved back towards the clearing, Logan grabbing Remus to carry her up as he floated to the level above. They found Patton sat down in the ground, with their hands touching the grass. 

"Alright, we have a solution," Logan said, causing both Patton and Virgil to jump a little in surprise. "And we'll need both of you." 

"I tried growing a flower," Patton said. "It isn't working." 

"That's alright, Patton," Logan said, calmly. "We're taking a trip to Nochae."


	53. Chapter 53

Roman halted to a stop as the group reached the Silvales border, glancing behind him to find out that the guards had stopped following them long ago. He sat down on a rock close by, panting as he tried to get his breath back. He... wasn't entirely sure what had happened back at the Palace, he didn't really remember much of it, but... 

"C'mon, Roman, we're so close," Declan said, reaching down to grab his boyfriend's hand. 

"I just... need a minute..." Roman panted, holding his head in his hands. 

"You can rest when we're in Silvales," Declan said, calmly. "You'll be safe there, yeah?" 

"Yeah, yeah." After taking another deep breath, Roman stood up, stumbling a little but soon regaining his balance. "To Silvales." 

The four of them (Roman hadn't thought of it before, but there _was_ four, not just him and Declan - there was also the two who he'd been kidnapped alongside of, Remy and Emile, who... had come back?) continued their journey into Silvales, stepping over the invisible barrier preventing unwanted guests from entering. But as Roman tried to pass through the barrier, he found himself unable to. The other three were still walking, leaving him behind. 

"Uh, guys?" he called out, banging his hand in the barrier and still finding himself unable to move through. 

Declan turned around, his eyebrows furrowing. "Roman. Just step forward." 

"I- I can't." Roman tried again. "It's not letting me through." 

Declan moved closer towards the border, right up to Roman. "What do you mean you _can't_ get through?" 

Roman closed his eyes. He touched the border again, for a longer period of time, and began to feel a pain moving up his arm, towards his shoulders. He drew his hand away. "I..."

Declan's eyes widened. "The tattoo." 

Roman frowned, before realisation dawned on him. He... He had joined the Dragon Witches. Sort of. He had the tattoo, so... He stepped away from the border, desperately trying to hold back tears. He sat back down on that rock, and Declan soon joined him, rubbing his back. 

"Don't worry," he said, which didn't particularly do anything to calm Roman's nerves. "We can figure something out." 

"We can't," Roman objected, feeling panic beginning to settle in his stomach. "I'm- I'm such an _idiot_." 

"You're not an _idiot_ , Roman-" 

"No, I am!" He shuffled away from Declan, stopping just in time to prevent himself falling off the end of the rock. Would’ve been fitting if he _had_ fallen off the rock though, that would’ve proved just how stupid he really was. "I- I _joined_ them. They gave me a choice, I could have said no, I-" 

"You _joined_ them?" Declan repeated, raising an eyebrow. 

"No. Yes. Kind of." Roman groaned. "At the time, it seemed like a good idea. They- They said that if I joined them, I'd be able to leave the jail and stuff, and-" He didn't want to tell Declan that _part_ of the reason he'd agreed was because of her offer, because she said she could _teach_ him, that he could improve his magic with her help. The more he thought about it, the worse it sounded. He really _was_ an idiot. "I thought it would give me a chance to escape. I- I didn't ask for the tattoo. And I didn't want to _actually_ join them." He couldn't help but feel like he was lying. 

"You made a mistake, that's _fine_ ," Declan said. "I'm sure Silvales will understand. Maybe- Maybe we could get someone else to let you in, or find another entrance-" 

"The barrier extends all across the border," Roman mumbled. "There's no weak spots or hidden entrance. Enemies of Silvales are strictly forbidden from entering." 

"So- So we talk to your parents, maybe they can-" 

"The _moment_ my parents see this tattoo, they'll _freak out_ and probably disown me or banish me from Silvales." Roman breathed in and out. He was finding it more and more difficult to do so, but still, he breathed. 

"So we won't let them see the tattoo," Declan said. He looked around for something, something that he couldn't seem to find. "Uh..." 

Remy crossed over the border, taking off his jacket. "Put this on. It'll hide it." He handed the jacket to Roman. 

For a moment, Roman just stared at the jacket sitting in his arms. "My parents will question it." 

"They won't," Declan said. "You're overthinking all this. Your father is ill and your mother is probably too overwhelmed thinking about how to take care of him. You'll be fine." 

After a moment of silence, Roman slowly nodded. "Okay. Yeah." He slipped on the jacket. "But... surely they'll still question _why_ we can't get back in? I mean- We should _all_ be able to get back in, right?" 

Declan drummed his fingers on the rock below. "I'm a Denemi. The Denemi have joined Ignebris. We could use that." 

Roman smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, that works." He could breathe again now, almost. "Uh..." 

"Remy, Emile, go to the first village and get help, someone who can lift the spell for a moment," Declan ordered. The two nodded and ran off, before Declan turned back to Roman. "Everything will be okay, yeah?" 

Roman scooted back towards Declan, ducking beneath his arm and melting into his chest. After figuring out what Roman was trying to do, Declan hugged Roman tightly with one arm, resting his head on top of Roman's and continuing to gently rub his back. Declan was cold and comfortable and comforting, and Roman could breathe properly now, completely. Things would be fine. 

But the tattoo was still fixed in the back of his mind. It was there now, he- he had a connection to them. They might be able to use him. Was that what had happened back in the Palace? He... vaguely remembered attacking Declan, but couldn't remember _wanting_ to. But then again, he _also_ didn't remember trying to fight back, trying to stop himself from fighting Declan, until... until Declan snapped him out of whatever trance he was under. 

Declan had saved him, in more ways than one. He'd saved him physically, of course, rescuing him from the Dragon Witch's clutch, but... he'd also saved him from himself, from the... not so good thoughts circling his mind. The thought that- that maybe joining the Dragon Witches was a _good_ idea. That he'd be more _useful_ to them, or that they could _help_ him more than the friends he already had, the people who already taught him. 

He just... didn't know how things would go from now on. If- If his friends saw the tattoo, they'd all freak out, and there was a chance they wouldn't take it as well as Declan had. What if they all hated him now? What if they... 

"Everything will be fine," Declan repeated over and over, in a hushed tone. Yeah. Everything would be fine. Roman trusted his boyfriend more than anyone, _everything_ would be fine. 

Remy and Emile soon returned with a couple satyrs, who opened up the barrier and allowed Declan and Roman to walk through. Roman plastered on a smile and walked with false confidence, putting on that regal persona he always adopted when returning to Silvales, _especially_ when talking to his people. 

"Are you alright, your majesty?" one of the satyrs asked, tilting her head. 

Roman nodded. "I'm quite alright, thank you. Just ran into some trouble in Ignebris, no biggie." 

"I didn't know you're fighting in the war," the other satyr asked, looking a little more skeptical of Roman than the first. 

"Not on the front lines," Roman said. "I'm part of a team, along with Declan here, taking down the Dragon Witches. And other minor missions along the way. Working for the Academy." 

"Shouldn't you be in the Palace?" the satyr continued. "Y'know, with the state your father is in and all..." 

For a moment, Roman's smile faltered. He tried his best to hide it from the others. "My team and I were actually working on that, on a way to save him. There was a... slight complication, but they should be here soon. Declan and I should return to the Palace, meet back up with them there." 

Seemingly satisfied, the two satyrs returned to their own conversation, going to talk with Emile and Remy well. Roman fell back, walking besides Declan, and let out a sigh. 

"Things will still be okay, my prince," Declan said. "Your parents will probably be delighted to see you." 

"Yeah..." Roman sighed again. "I just- What if it's already too late? What if the others don't make it back on time?" 

"It'll be fine, Roman," Declan promised. "The others are probably already on their way to Silvales, maybe they're already _at_ the Palace." 

Roman breathed out. Yeah, maybe they were. His father would be alright. His father _needed_ to be alright, otherwise Roman wasn't sure what he'd do. He'd become King, of course, and probably be in charge of making decisions over the war. But... he wasn't ready for that, wasn't ready to be King. He didn't even know if he _wanted_ to be King. All he really wanted was to be happy, for the war to be over and him and Declan living happily together. 

The group made it to the first village as the sun began to set, and decided to stay there before continuing their journey in the morning. They booked in at the inn - or, well, the innkeeper let them stay upon noticing that he was _Prince Roman_ , soon to be King - and tried to get some rest, Remy and Emile each getting their own bedroom - although Roman suspected they probably just used one of the rooms - and Roman and Declan having to explain that they were happy to share. Roman crawled into bed next to Declan, the two holding each other tight. 

"Is it not too late to just... run away?" Roman said, quietly. 

Declan frowned. "Run away?" he repeated. 

"I mean... Get away, from all of this," Roman continued. "Go start a new life somewhere, just the two of us. I don't know, elope and buy an apartment in Divitunia maybe, or just escape the Continent entirely. Just... get away."

"Roman, you're a _prince_." 

"Yeah, and?" He sighed. "I never _asked_ to be a prince. The moment my father dies _I'll_ be put in charge of all of this, and... and I don't _want_ to be in charge. I can't be in charge, I'm not- not ready for that." He rolled over, untangling himself from Declan's arms and staring up at the ceiling. 

Declan moved closer, sitting up a little so he could look Roman in the eye. "The war will still go on if we leave, Roman," he said. "That... won't solve anything." 

"Do you _want_ to be fighting in this war?" Roman asked.

Declan blinked. For a moment, he didn't seem to know how to respond. Eventually, he sighed. "I don't want to fight in _any_ war, Roman. I want peace just as much as anyone does. But if we refuse to fight, the war won't just end. It... We can make it end, me and you, and the others, and... and then we could run away, maybe." 

Roman turned over again, now staring at the wall. "We don't even know why this war started. My parents never explained, and it's been going on for... for years." 

"I know, Roman." Roman could feel Declan's fingers brushing against his back, and then nothing. Declan laid back down. "This... isn't even our fight, it's our ancestors fight, and I hate it as well, but I'd rather fight with the slim chance of us winning than refuse and let the world go up in flames." 

Roman couldn't help but flinch a little at that last statement. _Go up in flames._ He knew that Declan probably wasn't thinking too much about his wording, but still couldn't help but feel attacked. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't his magic's fault, but... 

"When I was in Ignebris, I was... talking, to one of the guards," Roman said. "He... He said that everyone from Ignebris was originally from here, and- and that they were banished, or something. Because of their magic. And I-" 

Declan rubbed his body against Roman's, wrapping his arms around him again. Roman relaxed, breathing out. "You're not evil, Roman. Maybe your ancestors made a mistake, but... your magic isn't evil. And you'd make an excellent king." 

"What if I don't _want_ to be king?" 

"Then... you make an excellent prince," Declan continued, "and an excellent partner, and an excellent warrior. We can end this war, for good, and then me and you can run away, get as far away from all of this as you want, and we can be happy together, alright?" 

A small smile crept onto Roman's face. "Yeah. Alright." 

"But for now," Declan said, "we should get some rest. It's a long way to the Palace." 

Roman closed his eyes. "Yeah. Goodnight, my knight." 

"Goodnight, my prince."


	54. Chapter 54

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: religion, prayer

After a quick detour back to the village to attempt to get some warmer clothing - mostly for Patton, who wasn't used to these colder climates and definitely not dressed appropriately - the four of them headed down to Nochae, Logan leading the way. The Caeti had given them all (apart from Logan, who was built for Nochae's climate anyway) coats made out of their own feathers, which were apparently warm enough even for Nochae. Logan had his doubts, but the coats would certainly do more than what the other three currently had on, and it was better than nothing. 

By the time they reached Nochae, it was beginning to get dark again, and Logan already felt at home. Days were shorter in Nochae, with most people working at night, when the Soul Stream came out and more magic was available. So as the four of them trekked over the snowy fields of Nochae, they began to see other Nochees come out and walk across the fields, some heading to their daily prayers and others going straight to work. Logan could feel a warmth within him, the feeling that he belonged. He could feel his magic all around him, hear the gentle song of the stars, whispering gods lending him their strength. 

He breathed in the cold air, allowing it to fill his lungs, and felt snowflakes land on his skin, sinking into his arms. He had missed this. As much as he loved studying at the Academy, and going on these adventures with his friends, he really did miss being at home. Stars above him twinkled, saying hello as he passed underneath. A few of his own stars, circling around his head, lifted up to join their brothers in the sky, nestling into the blanket of darkness. And Logan breathed. 

But the three besides him didn't seem as pleased as he did. Well, Remus seemed fine, a smile on her face as always, but Patton was shivering and Virgil seemed on edge. Breathing out, Logan gave the three of them a small smile. 

"Don't worry, we'll find a place inside to rest soon and travel in the day," he said. "It's a little warmer when the sun’s out. Although, we wouldn't have long." 

"How are you not freezing right now?" Patton asked, their arms folded over their chest and head hidden beneath their hood. 

"In case you've forgotten, Patton, I was born here," Logan said. "My body is suited to withstand this sort of cold. I'll be just fine walking around as long as I please." 

Logan looked ahead. In the distance, he saw a temple, glistening white in the darkness. He smiled - the group would probably be allowed to stay there overnight, with the added benefit of being able to finally partake in his prayers properly, and perhaps talk to the priest there, catch up with what he's missed in Nochae. He led the other three over to the temple, stopping by the front entrance. 

"Are we... staying here?" Remus asked, breaking through the silence. 

Logan nodded. "Yes. Assuming they allow us to stay." 

A priest came to the door, looking pleasantly surprised at seeing Logan but taking one look at Logan's companions and deciding to take the group with a little more skepticism. 

Logan bowed his head in greeting, slipping into his native tongue to explain his situation to the priest. "We're travellers, from the Academy. Do you perhaps have room to house us for the night?" 

The priest hummed, before stepping aside, allowing the others to enter. They showed the group to a room in the back, where a few Nochee children were sleeping. 

Logan turned to his friends. "You three go to sleep. We'll head off at first light." 

Although looking a little confused, the three did as instructed, whilst Logan himself exited the room and walked back through the main temple, wandering the halls for a while before stopping by a shrine for the star god, Sacaro. He knelt down besides it, beginning to chant under his breath, finally saying what should be his daily prayers and feeling... not much, really. This used to make him feel a little more powerful, or more refreshed, but... 

Well, it had been a while, he supposed. He always tried to do his daily prayers, and personal prayers if he felt the need to _or_ got the chance, but it was difficult when he spent so much time on the road. His connection to the old gods was always hazy at the Academy, and whilst it was a little better on the Continent, specifically in places where some gods still reside - although not necessarily _his_ gods - nothing would beat Nochae. There was also the problem that he really should be doing this every single day, but he wasn't, because of all the stuff going on. Between fighting and running and surviving, he found it difficult to find enough time to do it properly. 

His daily prayers came to an end and he felt no different than before. Was his connection to the gods really that bad? It couldn't be _so_ bad, he'd been using his powers this whole time so the connection must still be _there_ , it just... 

He took in a deep breath. He'd be fine. Everything would be fine. 

He closed his eyes. "I know it's been a while," he said, probably to Sacaro, if they had bothered to listen, but possibly to himself. "I've been trying to talk to you, but it's hard, sometimes. I still have every faith that you can help me, help all of us. This war..." 

Sacaro wouldn't care about the war. It had nothing to do with Nochae, nothing to do with the stars. Logan doubted there was much that Sacaro would do, but... 

"I know it isn't our war to fight," he continued, "but here I am, fighting in it, and I just want it to end. I... If you're listening, please, _please_ protect us. My friends aren't... huge believers in all of this, but they are good people, and deserve to continue living. We're fighting for what is right." 

Still nothing. Not even that warm feeling he used to feel whilst praying. 

"I'm sorry I've been neglecting you for so long," he said, opening one eye to look up at the statue of Sacaro. "I'm sorry if I've just been using you for your power. I'm... thankful, that you've allowed me to use this power, it's been helpful on my missions and in my daily life, but perhaps I haven't thanked you enough for it. I promise that, as soon as all of this is over, I can spend more time thinking about you. I just... just want a sign that you're still listening." 

Still, nothing. He closed his eyes again. 

"You don't even have to listen, then, if you don't want to. I just want to know that you're there. _Need_ to know that you're there." 

He felt a hand on his shoulder. Cold, delicate. He opened his eyes, turning his head to the side, and smiled. A ghostly figure sat there, long hair flowing in the breeze and stars covering their entire body. A few stars lifted off of their skin and landed on Logan's, in an explosion of warmth and light. And after a while, they faded, leaving Logan alone, but that warm feeling settled in his chest. 

"Thank you," he said, quieter. "I put my every faith in you. I... hope that you can do the same for me." 

He finished up with another daily prayer, a quiet chant to say goodbye, before standing up and turning to continue his journey through the temple. However, he stopped before he could leave the small room he had found himself in, as Virgil stood in the doorway. Logan tried to maintain a straight face. 

"How much of that did you hear?" he asked, finding himself unable to maintain eye contact with Virgil. 

"I didn't understand any of it," Virgil quickly said, "and I've only been here for a few minutes." 

Logan breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes. Of course, you wouldn't understand Nochee.” 

After a moment of standing there in silence, Virgil stepped aside, allowing Logan to walk out. The two began to walk through the temple, Logan leading the way. 

"What were you doing?" Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Praying," Logan replied, simply. 

"Oh." 

"What are _you_ doing?" Logan asked in return. "I thought you were going to sleep." 

"Couldn't." Virgil sighed. "This place is..." 

"Ah." Logan glanced at him. "You're not religious, are you? It's alright. Whilst we don't really get a lot here, our temples are still hospitable to those who don't believe in our gods, as long as they respect us for doing so." 

"No, it's more..." Virgil bit his lip. "I don't really know what to believe any more. I didn't _want_ to believe in _any_ god, because surely if there _was_ they'd do _something_ to help me, but they never did, but then... I don't know. This place is just making me overthink it. Guess it's forcing me to think about some stuff I've been trying hard to repress." 

Logan hummed. "Come with me," he said, beginning to lead Virgil to the other side of the temple, a secluded corner containing another shrine. "This is the shrine for the god Dreta. Or Dratino, as you call them. It... may not be entirely the same as talking to Dratino, but if it makes you feel any better, you _could_ try." 

Virgil rubbed his arm. "I... don't know if it would. I don't know if I'd feel _comfortable_ talking to someone who might not even be there." 

"It's alright if you don't want to, Virgil." 

Virgil was silent for a moment. "What would I even say?" 

"Whatever you want," Logan said, calmly. 

Virgil breathed in. "Alright. But you can't listen." 

Logan nodded. "Of course. I'll be in the main room, you can come find me when you're finished." 

"Thank you," Virgil breathed, before heading into the small room.

Logan turned and left, heading back towards the entrance of the temple, to the main room. The priest was there, sitting on the porch just outside. Logan went to join them. 

"Do you need assistance?" the priest asked, glancing up at him. 

Logan shook his head. "No. Just... someone to talk to. Or sit with." 

"You have your friends, do you not?" 

"They're sleeping," Logan said. "They probably _need_ the sleep. We've, uh, been through a lot, recently." 

The priest raised an eyebrow. 

"We're fighting in the war," Logan quickly explained. "In the name of the Academy. It's... been a while since I came back here. I missed it." 

The priest hummed. "Do I know you?" 

"Probably not," he admitted. "I'm Logan, of Strye Village. Moved to the Academy when I was young, though." 

"Where are you heading?" they asked. 

"Back to the village. Waiting for morning for the others to travel. It's irresponsible of me to make them travel at night, when the temperatures are at their coldest." 

The priest nodded. "Yes, of course." They looked out across the snow, at the colours beginning to dance in the sky. "You should go to sleep too, if you've been travelling so much." 

"I just had to do a couple prayers," Logan said, "and I'm waiting for another one of them. He went to pray for Dreta. It's, uh, his first time doing it, so he may be a-" 

"Hey," a voice said, behind them. 

Logan turned. "Ah, here he is." He stood up. "Thanks, again, for allowing us to stay," he said to the priest. 

The priest. "It's alright, Logan. Get some rest." 

"I will." He turned back to Virgil and began to lead him back towards the sleeping chambers. "Did it go well?" 

"It was... weird," he admitted. "I haven't prayed since I was a child, back when... back when I was _forced_ to pray under the Therban Church. But praying to Dratino - or Dreta, whatever - felt... nice." 

Logan smiled. "That's good. Of course, don't feel pressured to keep it up, but-" 

"I still have to think about it," Virgil said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "But anyway, we really should sleep now." 

"Yes, of course." They turned into the room, lying down next to a sleeping Patton and Remus. "Goodnight, Virgil." 

"Night, Logan."


	55. Chapter 55

The four of them all woke up hours before sunrise, but Logan wouldn't let them leave the temple until the sun was high in the sky and it would be just a little bit warmer. The wind was still bitter cold, and Patton still shivered as they walked through the snow, but it wasn't _as_ bad as the night before. They could _cope_ with this. 

Besides, they had to admit that Nochae was beautiful. Snow gently floated down from the sky, settling on the ground beneath them. A few trees were scattered around, reaching high up to the heavens, but you could see for miles on end, the horizon stretching out in front of them. Some cabins laid dotted over the landscape, as well as more temples very similar to the one they had stayed in the night before, and a few smaller communities, not quite big enough to be villages but with a fair amount of people living within them. If it wasn't for the extreme weather, Patton imagined people would visit Nochae a lot, just to see the beauty of it all. 

Patton felt something cold land in their shoulder and they froze. They turned their head, spotting Remus smirking at them from a distance, their hands hidden behind their back. Humming, Patton continued to walk, but felt another cold object land on them, and turned their head again to see Remus throwing a snowball at them. This one landed directly on their face, and they stumbled back a little, wiping their face to get rid of the snow. 

Virgil glanced over, playful anger settling on his face as he bent down to get some snow and throw it at Remus, stepping in front of Patton protectively. The two soon launched into a full on snowball fight, Patton occasionally throwing one as well to help Virgil out. Logan turned, noticing that the three of them had stopped walking, and sighed. 

"Guys, we really don't have time-" 

A snowball landed on his face, thrown by Remus. Logan breathed out. 

"Alright then." 

He bent down and scooped up a large chunk of snow, sending it in Remus' direction. As it collided with Remus, they fell to the floor, laughing a little before getting back up to the feet and continuing the fight. The group's laughter filled the air, as they ran through the snow, not exactly covering any ground but, for a few moments, forgetting all about their worries, and allowing themselves to just... have fun. Like they were supposed to. 

Logan and Remus found themselves in a one on one duel whilst Virgil and Patton moved back to just watch, Patton beginning to get a little too cold and Virgil a little too tired. Patton ducked underneath Virgil's arm, cuddling up to him for warmth as they watched Remus tackle Logan to the floor, sending both of them into a fit of giggles. Virgil ruffled his hands through Patton's hair, wiping away a few snowflakes, and Patton melted into Virgil's chest, the biggest smile he'd had in a while settling on his face. 

Perhaps Virgil sneaked in a few kisses, against Patton's cheek and forehead. And maybe Remus sneaked a kiss with Logan as well, but nobody said anything. After Remus helped Logan off the floor, the four of them continued their journey, and no one said a word. It had been a quiet moment of pure bliss between the four of them, a single positive event for them all to think about, to relish in. Things would be okay. Perhaps once the war was over, they'd get more moments like this, of pure happiness.

~*~

Roman sat in the back of a carriage winding its way through the forests of Silvales, up towards the Palace. He and Declan would have been fine walking, but the people of the village they'd stayed in overnight had insisted that they take a carriage, and Roman wasn't about to say no. Besides, this meant he'd reach the Palace a lot sooner, which would give him longer with his father, and possibly meant he'd get to see the rest of his friends sooner. 

Or maybe not. They probably weren't at the Palace, not just yet. And maybe his father wasn't getting any better, maybe he was getting worse. But Roman tried not to think about it too hard. For now, he just wanted to enjoy his journey through Silvales, through his home. 

He recognised these streets, these pathways through the forest, the ponds scattered around and trees reaching up and blocking out the sky. He used to play here with Remus, running all around the kingdom. They'd play games, pretend to be something else - Roman always took the role of hero and Remus took the role of a villain. Maybe a pirate, or a witch, or dragon. Sometimes they'd play with other children in the village - maybe someone would play the damsel in distress and Roman would play the knight, saving them from the clutches of a dragon. When Declan moved here, Roman had a sidekick as well, teaming up against Remus. All in good fun, of course. 

A smirk grew across Declan's face. "Hey, remember when I pushed you into that lake?" they said, pointing out the window. "We were just beginning to get the hang of sword fighting and you were _so close_ to winning." 

Roman laughed. "Oh yeah! I'd knocked the sword out your hand already! So you... pushed me. I mean, it worked. I was _soaking_ wet, though." 

"You were." They giggled, before losing their smile. "Uh, sorry about that, though. You were pretty mad after." 

"Well, _yeah_ , you _pushed_ me into a _lake_." 

"You _were_ pretty annoying."

Roman let out an offended gasp. 

"Wait," Remy said, from the other side of the carriage, "so you two are, like, childhood friends?" 

Roman glanced at Declan. "Kinda? I mean, we lived in the Palace together after they just kinda... showed up one day." 

"I ran away from home," Declan said. Roman tried not to think about how that was a lie - they didn't run away from home, not really, they were more... sent away, but perhaps they didn't want Remy and Emile to know the full story. "The folks at the Palace took me in, let me train. Eventually I got the job as Roman's knight. Really that was more of an excuse to let us hang out more." 

"They're a brilliant knight, though," Roman said. "I mean, have you two seen them in action?" 

They exchanged a glance. "Yeah," Emile said, quietly. "It's a little scary, actually." 

Roman frowned. "It's what?" 

"Like, the way you handled those soldiers who told us where to find Roman-" 

"I'm not usually like that," Declan quickly said, and Roman couldn't help but feel like they were hiding something. But that was ridiculous - Declan was good, Declan was fine. "I didn't have much of a choice. We needed to find Roman." 

"What happened?" Roman asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"I-" Declan shifted in their spot. Remy and Emile weren't saying anything. "I just killed a couple guys, no big deal, not like it’s the first time-“ 

“Oh.” That sounded like Declan. Well, not exactly, as far as Roman knew Declan wasn’t the _biggest_ fan of straight up murder, but... they’d killed before. So had Roman. It was kind of impossible to avoid, when they were both involved in the war effort, when they both frequently had to fight Ignebris soldiers and Dragon Witches. Some fatalities were needed, although now Roman was beginning to... question that. The guard he’d talked to... “Yeah, that makes sense. As I said, they’re a great knight. And they saved me! Which is awesome!” He tried not to think any more about that. 

“Hey,” Declan said, changing the conversation, “Remus broke their arm when we climbed that tree, remember?” They pointed out the window to a large tree, with Roman and Declan’s initials carved into it. 

Roman let out a hearty laugh. “Oh my gods, I remember that! They were trying to show off hanging off the branch, and doing tricks and stuff, and then... was it me who shouted at them?” 

“Yeah!” Declan giggled. “They were so surprised that they slipped.” 

“Yeah, I felt kinda bad about that. Mother was pretty upset with me.” He sighed. “But! Then the next week Remus scared me whilst I was sitting by that waterfall, y’know the one where those nymphs hung out that always _flirted_ with me for some reason-“ 

“To be fair, you flirted back,” Declan added. 

“Yeah, but not _seriously_ , that was just a joke, but _they_ took it seriously.” He hummed. “Anyway, I didn’t feel bad after Remus made me fall into that pond. And we had a good laugh about it after, anyway.” 

“Who’s Remus?” Emile asked. 

“My twin,” Roman said. 

“Ah.” 

“We used to play a lot around this area,” Roman said. “All three of us. It’s, uh, been a while since we’ve all been back, though. Been at the Academy since we were ten. And fighting in the war and stuff.” 

He glanced out the window again, flashes of Remus circling through his mind. He remembered the day after Remus had broken their arm. They’d been so upset, so confused. For a while, they wouldn’t speak to Roman, instead resorting to sulking whilst he and Declan played. By the afternoon, Roman had gotten fed up, and went to sit with Remus, apologising and trying to make them feel better. It didn’t work, not really - it didn’t change what Roman had done, and certainly didn’t ease the pain. But it wasn’t long before Remus forgave Roman, in their own unique way - taking revenge and then laughing about it after. Besides, they’d got a cool scar from where the bone had stuck out, which had long since faded, but Remus loved to show it off to people back when they first got it. 

The sun was beginning to set now. Had they really been travelling for such a long time? Roman glanced over at Declan, who was now staring out the window, as the carriage pulled into a village. The group was informed that they would be spending the night here before travelling again in the morning, and quickly left the carriage, heading straight into the inn before anyone could spot or recognise them. 

Before heading up to bed, they decided to sit in the bar area for a while, have a small meal (which they were quite grateful for). Roman drummed his fingers on the table, staring at the flickering flame of the candle in front of him, before his eyes widened. “Shit.” 

Declan frowned at him, tilting their head. “What is it?” 

“It’s my birthday today,” Roman said quietly, eyes falling down to the table. 

Declan blinked, staring at him for a while as that sunk in, before their eyes widened too. “Oh, fuck. Should we do something?” 

Roman shrugged. “I-I don’t know. Wouldn’t really be the same with Remus here.” 

“Yeah, but... I mean, you used to love your birthdays,” Declan recalled. “Remember when you turned twelve and we had that ball in the Palace?” 

Roman chuckled. “Oh, yeah! We had this whole thing of trying to flirt with all the girls in the Kingdom, even though we didn’t really like any of them.” 

“I mean, by the end we were flirting with the boys-“ 

“And then a couple years later, each other...” 

Roman stared at Declan for a while, and Declan stared back, a look of pure admiration in his eyes. Eventually, Remy cleared his throat, and their gazes broke. 

“So, uh, your birthday?” Remy said. “You’re now...” 

“Eighteen,” Roman said with a grin, until he immediately lost that grin as it all caught up. “Eighteen. Holy shit.” 

“It’s not so bad,” Declan said. 

“You’ve only been eighteen for a few months, Declan.” 

“And...?” 

“Still!” Emile exclaimed, rounding rather excited. “Eighteen, huh? That’s great!” 

“Well...” Roman sighed. “Yeah, sure, I guess. Although there’s no real excuse why I can’t be King anymore-“ 

“You’ll make an excellent king, Roman,” Declan said, sounding almost like it was out of habit. Roman wasn’t sure how to feel about that - clearly, Declan was just trying to make him feel better, but... 

“We should get you a cake, or something,” Emile suggested. “No birthday is complete without a cake.” 

“I’m really not that bothered, you guys-“

But Emile had already stood up and made his way to the bar, dragging Remy along with him. That left Declan and Roman at the table alone, once again staring into the flickering flame. 

Declan smiled. “Happy birthday, Roman.” 

Roman smiled back. “Thanks.” 

“Shame it’s happening whilst we’re... y’know.” 

“Yeah.” Roman sighed. “When I was a kid, I thought my eighteenth birthday would be some huge celebration. A ball again, maybe. Just, a huge party in the Palace, everyone from the kingdom invited. There’d be dancing and food and stories and games and...” He ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes. “Never thought we’d be in the middle of a war, I guess. I mean, I know the war was still going on when I was a kid and all, but... I don’t know. Kinda hoped that wouldn’t impact my ‘big eighteenth’, becoming an adult and all.” 

Declan scooted closer, wrapping an arm around Roman and pulling him closer. “Maybe we can have that big celebration when this is all over.” 

“Yeah, maybe.” Roman smiled. “With Remus, as well. I’ve... I’ve never actually spent a birthday without them.” 

“Yes, with Remus as well.” 

After a moment of silence, Roman moved away from Declan a little, but allowed Declan to keep an arm around his shoulder. “Y’know, I think I actually prefer it like this.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” His eyes glanced around the bar, before landing back on Declan. “Would be better with Remus, of course, but a massive ball may have been a little... much? I’d rather just spend this time with the people I love most. Or, well, you, I guess. And the others. Would be nice if they were here as well.”

“We’ll see them soon,” Declan promised. Roman sank back down into them and closed his eyes. This was nice, he thought. Things were nice. 

Eventually, Emile and Remy returned, with a few pastries and some more candles. 

“Okay, they didn’t have any birthday cakes,” Emile said, sounding apologetic, “but we did get these cinnamon buns and some croissants.” 

Roman smiled. “It’s perfect.” 

Emile grinned, then stuck some smaller candles into the pastries, before picking up the candle from the middle of the table and lighting the others. Declan began to sing a song, the traditional birthday song of Silvales, before Roman blew out his candles and the four each took a few pastry, Roman going straight for the cinnamon buns and Remy and Emile fighting over who should take the last croissant. 

And Roman just smiled, happier than ever. Maybe this wasn’t the birthday he’d been expecting, but it sure had been a good one.


	56. Chapter 56

The four arrived in Logan's village at sunset, a dark blue blanket beginning to cover the sky. He was filled with an overwhelming feeling of... he wasn't sure. Sentimentality? That didn't make sense, he'd never exactly _missed_ his home, but... it was nice to be back, he supposed. 

As they walked along the cobbled streets, frosty with most snow shoved to the side, small houses built of wood lining the streets, nobody seemed to recognise or even take notice of Logan. He supposed that made sense - it had been a while since he came back and he had changed a lot whilst at the Academy, but he'd thought that at least _one_ person would remember him. 

Oh well. He wasn't here for a reunion. He was here to see the Soul Stream, to help the Silvalan King, not for anything else. _Strictly_ business. 

And, to be fair, it wasn't as if he recognised many people, either. A lot were still inside when they arrived, probably sleeping or relaxing, and the others were younger, possibly new additions to the village. A few he vaguely recognised, some people he'd perhaps stayed with for a period of time, but no one he had a strong emotional connection to, no one he remembered the name of. That didn't matter - he wasn't here to make conversation. Just a quick visit to the Soul Stream, maybe some time to do some research whilst the others slept - there wasn't an inn here, but he was sure somebody would allow them to sleep over for the night. If all else failed, there'd be another temple around somewhere. 

"Alright," Logan said, "we've got an hour or so before the Soul Stream will first appear. You two know the plan?" 

Virgil and Patton nodded, although both seemed a little... reluctant. Logan wasn't quite sure why. 

"Oh, maybe you could show us around the village whilst we wait!" Remus suggested. 

"That's hardly necessary, Remus," Logan said, readjusting his glasses. "There isn't exactly anything interesting here, aside from the Soul Stream. And the best place to view that would be on the hills behind the village, so we should probably head there anyway." 

Remus pouted. "Please? If we're gonna live here one day, I wanna know my way around-" 

Logan stopped. "Live here?" he repeated. 

Remus blinked. "Yeah?" 

After a moment of awkward silence between the two of them, Patton grabbed Virgil's arm and began dragging him away. "We'll leave you too alone for a second, meet you up on the hill, yeah?" 

Before Logan got a chance to reply, Patton and Virgil had already left. He cleared his throat, turning to Remus. "I'm aware of your wish to move to Nochae, but..." 

"This is your hometown," Remus said. "Don't you _want_ to return here?" 

"Well, I do appreciate growing up here," Logan admitted, "but I feel no desire to live here again. Nochae, yes, but I'd much rather get a small house somewhere else, away from the rest of society. Definitely away from the village." 

"You didn't... have a hard time here, did you?" Remus asked, looking a little sad. 

Logan frowned. "No? I had quite a happy childhood. The people of the village have been nothing but kind to me. I just... don't particularly feel a strong connection to any of them." 

"That's rough," Remus muttered. 

Logan felt confused and absolutely hated it. "Why?" 

"I mean..." Remus moved to the side of the street, sitting down on a bench and motioning for Logan to join them. "It's like, surely there's _someone_ who loved you as their child, right?" 

Logan hummed. "No, not that I can think of." 

"Not a _single_ person?" 

"Nope." He glanced around the street. "I told you back in Caetus, Remus. You guys are the closest thing to family I've ever had." 

"Yeah, that's sweet and all, but _seriously_ , a child should have a family, shouldn't they?" 

"Listen, Remus, I appreciate the concern," Logan said, "but there really wasn't anything wrong with my upbringing. It wasn't pivotal to my development to have a proper family. I had the whole village looking out for me. If I was in trouble now, I'd imagine they'd all still look out for me, have my back." 

"Yeah, but is that because you're a Nochee like them, or because you grew up here?" 

Logan hesitated. It was true that, as a child, no one in the village was like a real parent to him. He was mostly left to his own devices, moving between households and teaching himself about the world. Then when he moved to the Academy, he was still left to his own devices, to bring himself up. The teachers there never really gave a damn about him, knowing that he could learn just as well by himself, and not bothering to teach him anything _real_ , the things that parents were supposed to teach children. And that was fine, he didn't need to know that, he had his research, but... 

"Let's just move on," Logan said. "I can show you around the village if you wish." 

Remus eyes lit up. "Please do!" they exclaimed, apparently forgetting all about the conversation beforehand. 

Smiling fondly, Logan stood up and began to lead Remus through the streets, occasionally stopping to give some information about specific buildings or some people he recognised. They eventually stopped near the back of the village, a short walk away from the hills Logan had mentioned. They could see Patton and Virgil sat up there, deep in conversation, sounding almost like... an argument. The two decided to leave them there for a while, instead sitting down on another bench. 

Remus moved closer to Logan, huddling up to him for warmth. Sighing, Logan wrapped an arm around Remus, pulling them closer. He turned his head and planted a quick kiss on Remus' cheek, resulting in Remus turning bright red. A few passers-by gave them a confused look, but didn't dig. Logan giggled, pulling Remus even closer. 

"Y'know, I never thought that I'd be here right now," Logan said, quietly. 

Remus glanced up at him. "Yeah?" 

"Yeah." Logan hummed. "Like, I moved to the Academy and thought that would be it. I’d study there for a while, then probably end up moving back here and continuing my research on the field, or perhaps just stay at the Academy forever. When I was a child, what we now have was unheard of. I never... thought that I'd ever want to spend my life with another person, yet here we are." 

If possible, Remus turned an even brighter red. "I... get that, I think." 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" 

"Yeah. I mean, I always assumed that after the Academy I'd just have to hang out in the Palace again, under Roman's shadow," they said. "I never thought I'd ever get the _chance_ to move away, as much as I wanted it. Like, I know I'm a prince or whatever and I should be grateful for that, but I hated it back there. I mean, I liked _Silvales_ , in general, and of course I love Roman and Declan and everyone, but... I mean, I've told you about my parents before." 

Logan nodded. "Yeah, I understand." He sighed. "I never hated it here. I had a nice childhood. I remember going out to watch the Soul Stream every night. No one ever stopped me, sometimes I'd spend the whole night." 

"Is this the best place to watch the Soul Stream?" Remus asked. 

Logan hummed. "Well, there are many places it can be seen," he said, "although this is definitely _one_ of the best places. Most people who live in this village study it. You can see it pretty much anywhere in Nochae. It's... different here, though, closer, more powerful." 

"Is that why we can do the thing here?" Remus asked. 

Logan nodded. "Yeah. There's more magic in this area specifically. I suppose it's because the people here _really_ worship the Soul Stream? Perhaps some of their magic is taken by the Soul Stream." 

Another Nochee walked up to the pair, and they halted their conversation, glancing up at the newcomer. "Hey, do I know you?" the newcomer said. 

"Possibly." Logan unwrapped his arms and shuffled away from Remus, standing up and holding out a hand for the other Nochee to shake. "I'm Logan. I grew up here, but moved away at age ten to join the Academy." 

The Nochee's eyes widened. "Oh, Logan! I remember you! You stayed with me one summer, I think?" 

Logan hummed, before realisation settled on his face. "Oh! Of course, yes. Uh-" He clicked his fingers. 

"Terina," they said. 

"Ah, yes, Terina." He smiled. "How is your work on magical weapons going?” 

They raised an eyebrow. “You’ve read up that?” 

“Yes, it’s quite fascinating, I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you about it,” he said, sitting back down and motioning for Terina to join him. “Oh, this is Remus by the way, my... partner.” 

Terina smiled. “Nice to meet you, Remus,” they said, reaching out a hand to shake. Remus didn’t take it, but returned their smile. “So, what did you want to talk about?” 

“My friend was working on combining his magic with his weapon,” Logan said. “I had a look at the weapon after, and it hadn’t seemed to be affected at all, almost like the metal itself had rejected the magic, or repelled it.” 

Tenira hummed. “What type of magic, may I ask? And what type of metal?” 

“He used fire magic,” Logan said, quietly, ignoring the strange look from Remus as his voice lowered. “And I believe the metal is iron? Or steel? Something like that, he’s from Silvales.” 

“Ah,” Tenira said, “we’ve managed to combine our usual star magic with simple wooden tools, all it’s done so far is increase the durability and strength.” 

“Interesting,” Logan said. “With what my friend did, the magic did seem to improve his technique, but didn’t affect the weapon itself. However, I imagine his trick would be quite useful in battle.” 

“Yes, of course.” They stood up. “Well, I should be off. Please do send me a letter if you find anything else, though. And it was lovely to see you again, Logan.” 

Logan nodded. “Likewise, Tenira. I’ll be sure to keep up with your research.” They walked away, and Logan turned back to Remus. “Sorry about that.” 

“It’s alright,” Remus said, moving back close to Logan, manoeuvring their way into Logan’s arms. Logan leant down and planted a kiss on their forehead, and Remus leant up and planted a kiss on his lips, causing Logan to turn a bright blue this time. For a while longer, the two sat there, happy in one another’s presence and looking up at the colours beginning to dance around the sky. 

A moment later, Remus jumped up, moving away from Logan. Logan frowned, part of him wanting to pull Remus back in and the other part just curious as to what is wrong. 

“What’s wrong?” Logan asked, genuine concern in his voice. Remus had started pacing around the area in front of him, staring at the floor. 

“I’m eighteen,” they said, sounding just a little alarmed. 

Logan blinked. “No, I thought you were seventeen-“ 

“It’s my birthday,” Remus said, stopping and turning to face Logan. “How the fuck did I forget my birthday?” 

Logan’s eyes widened. “Oh! Your birthday. That’s... a big thing in Silvales, right?” 

Remus blinked. “Y-Yeah, I thought it was a big thing everywhere. Is- Do you guys not-“ 

“We don’t typically celebrate birthdays,” Logan stated. “Hence why, y’know, I’ve never mentioned my own around any of you guys. The majority of us just... don’t actually know our specific birthdays.” 

“Oh.” Remus hummed. “That’s a little sad. Birthday’s are great.” They sat back down next to Logan. 

“They are?” 

“Yeah. I used to have so much fun on my birthdays.” They smiled. “Better with a twin, because I always had someone to share it with.” 

Logan hummed. He wrapped an arm and Remus and pulled them into a hug, to which Remus smiled at. “So, uh, what do you usually do on a birthday?” 

Remus shrugged. “We usually have a party, get a few gifts. I’m mostly there for the cake. Can’t really do that right now, though, huh?” 

The two were silent for a moment, before Logan twisted his head around and kissed Remus, a few stars twirling around their heads. He could hear Remus’ heartbeat, and feel their body relax, and everything seemed okay. When they pulled apart, Logan said, “How’s that for a birthday present?” 

Remus smiled. “Brilliant. I’d like another, please.” 

“Of course.” They kissed again, longer this time, earning a few confused glances from passerbys but choosing to ignore that. Eventually, they pulled apart again, Remus looking fairly satisfied. “We can have a proper celebration back at the Academy,” Logan suggested. “If you want that.” 

Remus smiled. “That’d be nice. I’m not... too fussed, but sure. Think Roman wanted some massive ball at home though-“ 

“I sincerely doubt that will happen.” 

Remus sighed. “Yeah.” 

After a while of silence, the two returning to cuddling and staring into one another’s eyes, Logan cleared his throat and said, “We should join Patton and Virgil,” moving a little in his spot. 

“Oh, yeah, of course.” Remus stood up, dragging Logan with him. “We can cuddle again later though, right?” 

Logan smiled. “Yes, of course.”


	57. Chapter 57

Virgil followed Patton up the hill, sitting down next to them once they reached the top. He wasn't entirely sure why Patton had dragged him away from Remus and Logan, especially since Logan was really the only one who knew what was going on around here, but he wasn't about to complain. This meant an extra few minutes alone with his love, and he wouldn't give that up for the world. 

He wrapped an arm around Patton, pulling them closer as they began to shiver. Virgil himself hadn't found the cold weather so bad so far, despite Therba being a fairly warm place. That was probably more to do with Virgil's fashion choices - he always bundled up even in hotter climates, finding his hoodie to be comforting. Patton, however, didn't really dress for cold weather, wearing mostly t-shirts and skirts, plus that cardigan they usually wore as a cape but had since actually put on. And of course now they had the feathered coat, but that didn't seem to help Patton that much. 

Oh well. Virgil was here, at least, to keep Patton as warm as possible, sharing his heat. He was very tempted to take off his own feathered coat and give it to Patton, but wasn't sure if Patton would object, or if his simple hoodie would be enough for him. 

Actually, he didn't particularly care. He wanted Patton to be warm and happy. Virgil slipped off his feathered coat and wrapped it around Patton, who sank into it, seemingly grateful for the extra warmth, or possibly just happy because it was Virgil who had given them it. Virgil continued to hug Patton, and Patton sank into his chest, shivering a little less than before. Virgil was a little colder, but he didn't really mind. He'd be fine. 

He glanced down at his shadow, slowly making its way over to Patton, and moved back a little, trying to keep it as far away from Patton as possible. Virgil hummed. "Hey, Pat?" 

Patton looked up. "Yeah?" 

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. 

Patton frowned. "About what?" 

"Y'know. The flower thing." Virgil bit his lip. "I mean, we'd have to combine our magic, right?" 

"Yes. That's fine, though, isn't it?" they said, slight hesitation in their voice. 

"I mean... didn't you faint last time?" Virgil recalled. 

Patton's frown deepened. "That wasn't because of the magic. I faint all the time."

Virgil raised an eyebrow. 

"Okay, maybe I don't faint _all_ the time-" 

"You fainted after my magic infected your flowers-" 

"Your magic didn't _infect_ my flowers," Patton argued. "It just..."

"The flowers were turning black, Patton. And then you almost fainted. You looked _terrible_ , all pale, and..." He glanced down to the snow beneath him, reaching out a hand and beginning to poke holes in it, soon filled up by the snow still falling all around them. 

"It was probably just a coincidence," Patton said. "I'll be fine. And it's for the twins' dad. We have to do this, Virge." 

"I know, I know." Virgil sighed. "I just... don't want to hurt you." 

"I know that, dear," Patton said, barely above a whisper. "You won't hurt me. Don't worry." 

"I _have_ hurt people though, I've told you that," Virgil said. 

"I know." Patton reached over and grabbed Virgil's hand, rubbing it comfortingly. 

"Like... back when I was younger _whenever_ my cloud touched them they'd be in pain," Virgil said. "That's... That's why they're all so afraid of me. Some of them would get ill, I- I could have-" 

"Whatever happened wasn't your fault, Virgil," Patton said, moving closer to Virgil again. 

"But... if doing this means _you'll_ get hurt, then it _will_ be my fault," Virgil said, feeling panic slowly settling in his chest, and his cloud growing bigger. 

"Logan wants us to do this," Patton said. "If it was dangerous, he wouldn't be asking us to do it, right?" 

"Logan's been wrong before," Virgil said. "He was wrong about the mountain, what if-" 

"I'm sure he knows what he's doing," Patton said, calmly. "Just... calm down. Everything will be fine." 

Virgil could not calm down. He moved away from Patton, standing up and stepped back, trying to break his steadily growing cloud with him. Some of the shadow remained with Patton, beginning to touch their skin. Virgil tried to breathe. 

Patton stood up as well, stepping towards Virgil. _No_. Virgil couldn't say anything. Next thing Virgil knew, Patton was hugging him, and his shadow was beginning to seep into the flowers growing over Patton's skin, turning the petals black, a swirling pattern similar to the one that had appeared on his arm (it was still there, Virgil had been checking regularly ever since it first appeared). 

Virgil wanted to move away, but Patton wouldn't let him, they just hugged tighter. Virgil wanted to move away and argue more, tell Patton that he didn't want Patton risking their life just for some king who probably wouldn't do anything to help them anyway, that he couldn't allow himself to risk Patton dying at his hands. But Patton wouldn't listen anyway. And they said it would be fine. Virgil didn't know if he believed them, but the more they whispered it in his ear, the more he was inclined to listen. Maybe everything would be fine. And... And if Patton got hurt, they could be healed. They could be taken back to Lanamia, perhaps their mothers would keep them safe, maybe... 

Logan and Remus arrived on the cliff. Logan cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to interrupt this," he said, "but we really should be getting started." 

Patton drew away from Virgil, looking him in the eye. Virgil stared back at that beautiful blue, their kind smile, and for a moment his fears faded away. They would be fine. Things would be fine. 

He nodded. "Yeah, of course," he said, moving away from Patton and turning to face Logan. "What do we do?" 

"We'll have to wait until the Soul Stream is at its strongest," Logan said, beginning to lead the group further along the hill to a flatter, larger area. Colours filled the sky, and for a few moments Virgil allowed himself to appreciate the beauty of it all, the shimmering stars and rainbows of the night. 

"How do we know when it's the strongest?" Patton asked, as Logan dragged them into position away from Virgil. 

"I'll tell you when to start," Logan said, moving over to get Virgil in position as well. 

After they were both exactly where Logan wanted them to be, he moved over to join Remus at the side, observing the situation. Virgil stared at Patton whilst he waited, but stopped when his brain wouldn't let him think about anything other than Patton getting hurt, ill, pale, black marks all over their body, lying in the snow as the darkness consumed them. Patton was still wearing Virgil's coat - what if that had already infected them? Virgil had been wearing the coat the whole time, what if his shadow had already infected it, and now that Patton was wearing it it was infecting them, what if growing this flower like Logan wanted would just make everything a million times worse and what if Patton was- 

No. _Shut up_ , he told himself. He needed to stop overthinking everything. Things would be fine. 

"Alright," Logan said, "Patton, start growing the flower. Virgil, keep the shadow away for now." 

Patton stepped forward and knelt down, placing their hands on the snow. They closed their eyes and Virgil watched as some colours from the sky fell down, colliding with Patton and causing them to glow with rainbow colours. A few moments later, Patton stepped back, a flower slowly rising from the snow, pure white petals but glowing with those rainbow colours as well. Patton didn't stop glowing, either. 

The Soul Stream had moved lower now, dancing around Virgil's waist, and for a moment almost expelling his darkness. Virgil pulled it back, though, knowing he'd need it soon. The colours almost blocked his view of Patton and the flower, but thankfully it was just flashes, every now and then filling his vision and making him feel... stronger, in a way. More magic, filling up inside him. His worries faded away. And with that, the cloud as well began to fade. He tried to think bad thoughts to get it back, which really wasn't great for his mental health but he was just feeling... so calm, right now. Happy. 

He breathed in, trying his hardest to control his cloud, perhaps wanting it to stay with him for the first time in his life. He needed it right now. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder. A cold hand, gripping, aggressive. He glanced behind him, seeing a woman in a purple dress, long black hair, a harsh but determined expression on her face. The women from the woods. A goddess, maybe. He _had_ recently prayed to her, so maybe... 

Nothing had really happened, after his prayers. He'd felt a little better, that was for sure, and he'd certainly enjoyed praying to _her_ more than he did praying to the Therban god, whoever _that_ was, but there hadn't been any great revelations and he _definitely_ hadn't received a reply. But he'd asked for help, for luck, for safety. And perhaps she was here now, to help him through this, to provide him with the magic he needed. 

"Now, Virgil!" Logan called. 

Virgil thrust his hands forward, sending his cloud over to the flower. It seeped right into the petals, that black, swirling pattern beginning to cover the white. He stayed like this for a while, sending the shadows to the flower, eventually covering up the entire flower in his darkness. He tried to ignore how Patton cringed slightly as more of his darkness touched the flower, instead focusing on the task at hand. The Soul Stream moved down to Virgil, causing him to glow as well. 

But after a while, the glow faded. Virgil let his arms fall to the side. The Soul Stream returned to the sky. He breathed in and out. He glanced at Logan and Remus, who were both staring at the flower - no, not a flower, not right now. His cloud still covered the flower, a dome over the plant, growing smaller and smaller. The sun rose over the horizon, casting a yellow light over the snow. It had stopped snowing now, just the cool wind blowing through his hand. 

Patton fell to their knees, gripping their forehead. Eyes widening, Virgil rushed over, scooping Patton up in his arms and holding them, tight. They looked a little pale, but... not so bad. Not as bad as Virgil had thought they'd be. And they were smiling. 

"Did we do it?" they asked, curling up to Virgil's chest. They were shivering a little, so maybe they were just cold, or tired. 

Virgil nodded. "Yes, Pat, we did it. I think." He glanced up from Patton, noticing that his shadow had faded to be replaced by mist. _Morning mist. A yellow sky._ Perhaps this was the place they needed to be. Perhaps Logan had been wrong. But they were here now, and... 

The flower sat there, black swirling patterns on white petals. Logan stepped toward it and picked it off the ground, twisting it around in his fingers. A small smile grew across his face, as he whispered, "You did it." 

Smiling, Virgil looked back down to Patton. "We did it, Pat. Everything will be okay." 

Patton nodded. "Nice. I'm gonna... take a nap." 

"You can't take a nap here, Patton," Virgil said, softly. "We gotta go to Silvales, yeah?" 

"I'm tired." They closed their eyes, snuggling up to Virgil's chest and falling asleep. Virgil stared down at them, not entirely sure what to do. He decided to just pick them up, allowing them to sleep whilst he began to move with the others. 

"Are we heading to Silvales now?" Remus asked, finally joining the group. 

"We should probably start heading there as quickly as possible," Logan said. "Although in Patton's current position-" 

"I can carry them," Virgil said. "They'll wake up soon, I'm sure." 

Logan nodded. "Alright. We can perhaps stop by the nearest temple and rest for the night. It does appear to be morning now, though." 

The three began to walk back down the hill, moving east towards Silvales. After around half an hour or so of travelling in silence, Patton woke up, a little dazed and confused. After arguing a little with Virgil, Virgil gave in and placed them down on the ground, frowning a little as they stumbled but trying not to think too much of it. 

"I'm fine, don't worry guys!" they said, cheerfully. "Just a little dizzy. To Silvales!" 

The other three shared a concerned glance, but didn't dig. As Patton had said over and over again, everything would be fine.


	58. Chapter 58

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: hospitals

They left the village at first daylight, much to the annoyance of Roman, and got right back on the road. It wasn’t a super long journey to the Palace, around half a day, mostly spent in silence. Declan found himself staring at the forest around them, finding comfort in being back here. This was much more of their home than Denemuis had ever been. Here, people treated them how they had wanted to be treated, allowed them to train and let out their feelings in a healthy way, and where they’d made their first real friend. They couldn’t imagine a life having never arrived in Silvales. 

Actually, yeah, they could, but that was the last thing they wanted to think about. If they’d stayed in Denemuis, their life would be... awful, to put it simply. Maybe they’d have made it to the guard, but they’d never have received the same compassion as they had here, never had a family who actually cared. Never had Roman. Their gaze drifted over to Roman and they smiled. Roman’s hand reached over, taking theirs and gripping it tightly, comfortingly. 

As they arrived in the city, approaching the Palace, Declan looked around once more, fascinated by all they saw, flashes of their childhood, their _real_ childhood. They recognised some houses that they used to visit with the twins, places where they’d play with the other kids of the kingdom, places where they’d train with the other guards. Everything that they loved about Silvales, every single good memory and happy day flooded their mind, and they were filled with an overwhelming sense of peace.

“So, uh, what is the plan for the Palace?” Remy asked. 

Roman blinked. “Uh... Well, we’ll go see my parents, obviously. Our friends might already be there.” 

“Will you two be heading back to Divitunia?” Declan asked. 

Remy and Emile looked at each other. “I suppose we should,” Emile said. “After we’ve seen the King and Queen, of course. Once we know you two are safe.” 

“Also, I’m not leaving until I get my jacket back,” Remy added. 

Roman sighed. “That may be difficult, I really can’t let my parents-“ 

“Roman, you have _plenty_ of other clothes in the Palace, you can find a replacement,” Declan said. 

“Ah. Yes, of course.” 

The carriage halted to a stop. Taking in a deep breath, Roman opened the door and got out the carriage, helping Declan to get out as well. Emile and Remy followed, as Roman headed towards the front doors of the Palace, the guards immediately letting him in once realising who he was. His mother right in the entrance, pacing back and forth, lost in thought. 

Roman cleared his throat. “Uh, hey, Mother-“ 

She stopped and turned to face Roman, eyes widening. “Roman?” the Queen breathed, running up to him and scooping him up in her arms. Declan stepped back to stand besides Remy and Emile, watching Roman awkwardly hug his mother from a distance. After a long hug, she drew back, looking all around Roman with concern, muttering under her breath. 

Declan cleared their throat. "Your Majesty-" 

"Declan!" the Queen exclaimed, as if she'd just realised that they were here. She rushed over, a huge smile across her face. "I trust you've been protecting Roman as always?"

Declan nodded. "Of course." They decided it was best not to mention the fact that they'd allowed Roman to get kidnapped, because the Queen didn't need to know that. If she already knew that, she would say, and then Declan would maybe talk about it, but for now they needed to stay quiet. They didn't particularly want to lose their job. Or worry the Queen in any way. 

The Queen hummed. "We should get you to the infirmary," she mused. "And you too, Roman. And- who are these?" 

"This is Remy and Emile," Roman said, moving towards the group. "They're from Divitunia." 

"Ah." The Queen smiled. "Well, I'm sure we can find a room for you to stay in here," she said. "Although you two should probably head to the infirmary as well. All four of you look..." She trailed off. 

"We're fine, Mother," Roman insisted. "Just a few run-ins with some Ignebris soldiers on the way." The group began to walk towards the infirmary, the Queen leading the way. "I got your message about Father-" 

The Queen stopped walking for a moment. She closed her eyes, breathed in, then continued walking. "Yes, of course. I assume that's why you're here?" 

"Yes," Roman confirmed. "The rest of our team, including Remus, are finding the cure for him. They should be here soon - unless they're already here?" 

She shook her head. "They haven't arrived yet. Aren't you all meant to be down in Ignebris, though? That's what I heard from the Academy." 

"We were," Roman said. "We received your message whilst in Therba and had to change course." 

The Queen hummed. "How come you two aren't with the others?" 

Roman hesitated. "There was a slight complication," he said, carefully, "that caused us to be split up. We agreed to meet up back here." 

"What complication?" she asked. 

Roman glanced back at Declan, concern in his eyes. Declan moved forward. "It's really nothing to be concerned about, your Majesty," they quickly said. "As you can see, we're all here in one piece, and as far as I'm aware the others are getting on just fine without us-" 

"Remus is with the others, isn't he?" the Queen recalled. "You should be protecting him as well, shouldn't you?" 

"Remus is quite capable of handing himself," Declan said, "and he has Logan and Patton, as well as our new member, Virgil, who is an excellent fighter-" 

"It's your _job_ to protect _both_ Princes, Declan-" 

"I got kidnapped," Roman blurted out. Declan breathed in - well, there goes _that_ plan. 

The Queen turned to her son, frowning. "I'm sorry, you _what_?" 

"I got kidnapped," Roman repeated, slower. "Some Ignebris soldiers found me and took me to the Palace in Ignebris. But I'm back now, Declan immediately came to rescue me, everything is fine-" 

" _How_ exactly did you allow the _Prince_ to be _kidnapped_?" the Queen shouted, now facing Declan. 

"It's not their fault," Roman said, grabbing his mother's arm. "Declan has nothing to do with it." 

Well, that was a straight up lie. This was _entirely_ Declan's fault, no matter how many times Roman would try to convince them otherwise. If they hadn't run, Roman wouldn't have come looking for them, and then he wouldn't have gotten kidnapped, and everything would be fine. Maybe Declan would have died at the hands of the Denemi, but that would've been fine - as long as Roman was safe, it didn't matter. 

"What happened, then?" the Queen snapped, turning back to Roman. 

Roman gulped. "Well, uh- We were fighting, and-" 

"It was my fault," Declan said. "I abandoned the group for reasons relating to my past which I would rather not talk about, and Roman came looking for me. As soon as I was informed that he had been taken, I went to find him." 

The Queen didn't seem to know what to say. She looked between Declan and Roman, her eyes filled with a mixture of anger and concern. 

Roman stepped forward. "It's not their fault," he insisted. "Seriously, it was my own fault for being so-" 

"Just-" The Queen breathed in. "Just go to the infirmary. I'll come check on you in a while." She walked away, leaving them alone in the hallway. 

Once she was completely out of sight, Declan breathed in. "It's okay. Things are fine." Things were most certainly _not_ fine, but they didn't want to admit that. 

"Yes," Roman agreed, continuing to walk towards the infirmary. "She'll come around. That was okay." 

"Uh, sorry to break it to you," Remy said, speaking up for the first time since arriving at the Palace, "but that did _not_ look okay." 

"She's probably just worried," Declan said. "Remember what she was like when Remus broke their arm?" 

Roman nodded. "Yeah. She overreacted. This is exactly the same, right?" 

"Right." 

Emile blinked. "I'm pretty sure being _kidnapped_ is a little different to breaking an arm." 

"She trusts me," Declan said. "That's why I have this job. She'll come around." 

They reached the infirmary and stepped inside, the nurses glancing up in surprise. Their conversation faded as the nurses rushed over, immediately checking over the group's cuts and burns, healing them as best they could. Up until that point, Declan hadn't realised the severity of some of their wounds, particularly along their arms, and of course Roman was _really_ doing bad. 

The nurses also went to get some food and water for the group, which was pretty welcome, as Declan themself hadn't been eating properly recently and he doubted that Roman had been either. Once they were all patched up and had had a full meal, Roman moved over to Declan, sitting besides them on one of the hospital beds. Remy and Emile had moved to their own little corner, having their own conversation. 

"Are you okay?" Roman asked, nudging Declan. 

Declan stared at the floor. "Yeah. Of course." They looked back up at Roman. "They didn't-" 

"They didn't notice," Roman said. At some point he had taken off Remy's jacket to let the nurses check up on him, but he had since put it back on. "Or if they did, they didn't say anything." 

"Good," Declan breathed. 

Roman shuffled in his spot. "They'll find out eventually. Maybe... Maybe I should just tell Mother?" 

"No," Declan said. "You said yourself that she'd freak out. She’s freaked out _enough_ already just learning that you were kidnapped." They bit their lip, scales flickering purple for a second. "Maybe there's a way to get rid of it?" 

Roman shrugged. "I'm not sure. It... It seems pretty permanent." 

Declan thought for a moment. "Remus can control ink and stuff, right? Like, sometimes they control Logan's ink-" 

"I don't think this is _ink_ ," Roman said. 

"So is it like... branded?" Declan didn't like that thought. They didn't like to think that it could have hurt Roman when the tattoo appeared. He didn't... 

"No, not that either," Roman said. "It just kinda appeared. I think it's magic?" 

Declan hummed. "There must be a way to get rid of it." 

"You could always chop my arm off," Roman suggested. 

"No, Roman, we're not chopping your arm off." 

"It would solve the problem." 

" _You'd have no arm_." 

"Who needs arms?" 

" _You_ do, Roman." Declan sighed. "In case you've forgotten, you're a _swordsman_." 

"Oh." Roman hummed. "Right." He was silent for a moment. "We can't just leave it there, though. Or- Or we can't keep it hidden forever." 

At that moment, the Queen returned, immediately heading to Declan and Roman, sitting on the bed opposite them. Declan tried to forget about their previous conversation, figuring that was a problem they could solve later. For now, they had to make sure their relationship with the Queen was still... good. 

"I'm sorry for what happened back there," the Queen said, calmly. "Thank you, Declan, for saving Roman. I really do appreciate that." 

Declan bowed their head. "Of course, your Majesty. It's my job to protect him." 

"Roman," she said, turning back to her son, “I don’t want to dig too much, but... could you tell me what happened? Please?” 

Roman glanced down. “As I said, we got into a fight and some soldiers took me. I was in their prisons for a while until Declan came to save me. We then came straight back here.” 

The Queen nodded along. “Alright. I...” 

“Please don’t punish Declan,” Roman said, quietly. “It really isn’t their fault.” 

“Roman, you really don’t-“ 

“It’s okay, Declan,” the Queen said. “This is no one’s fault but Ignebris’.” 

Roman breathed out. “Yeah.” 

There was a brief silence, before the Queen hummed. “That isn’t your jacket, is it?” 

Roman’s eyes widened. “Uh. No. It’s, uh, it’s Remy’s-“ 

“Well, take it off, then,” she instructed. “I’m sure Remy would appreciate having it back.” 

“I-“ 

Declan grabbed Roman’s arm. “Your Majesty, I-“ 

“Take it off, Roman. It’s not even cold in here, you’ll be fine.” 

“No, I-“ 

“ _Roman._ ” 

Silence again. Roman breathed, in and out. Declan let go of his arm. Roman slowly took the jacket off. The Queen’s eyes widened. 

“I-Is that-“ 

“I know it looks bad!” Roman interrupted, instinctively reaching a hand up to cover the tattoo. “But I _swear_ that there’s nothing-“ 

“You _joined_ them?!” 

Roman hesitated. “Well, uh-“ 

“Declan, did you know about this?” 

They nodded, slowly. “Yes, but-“ 

“ _Why_ did you bring him back here, then?” 

“He’s not _actually_ a Dragon Witch,” Declan said, trying to remain as calm as possible. “He was... tricked.” Declan wasn’t sure if that was true, really it was just a shot in the dark, but... maybe he wanted to believe it was true. The Dragon Witch must have manipulated him, or something. Roman had said it was to give himself a chance of escape, but... Well, Declan _hoped_ it was just manipulation. If Roman had _actually_ considered joining the Dragon Witches, then... 

Then they’d be fine. It wasn’t a big deal. Roman wasn’t evil, Declan was sure of that. He’d never intentionally hurt an innocent person. Perhaps, in that moment, he had _thought_ that life may be better with the Dragon Witches, maybe he even wanted to be part of it, but Declan also knew that Roman wasn’t stupid. He knew that Roman was loyal and brave and all around a _good_ person, he’d never... 

“Mother,” Roman said, “I _promise_ that I don’t agree with _anything_ the Dragon Witches are doing. I don’t want to be a part of them. I was given no other choice. The _one_ thing I’ve been thinking about since I escaped is how the _hell_ I’m supposed to _get it off_.” 

Yes. Yes, Roman was doing well. Declan stayed silent, allowing Roman to handle this. 

“What if- What if they try to _use_ you, Roman?” 

Roman bit his lip. “I won’t let them. I’m... stronger than you think, Mother.” 

She looked down. “Okay. Okay, this is fine.” 

After a brief moment of silence, Roman spoke up again. “Actually, though, Mother, I, uh, do have a few questions-“ 

She looked back up. “Yeah?” 

“Yeah, I...” Roman glanced at Declan, and, for perhaps the first time in their life, Declan couldn’t quite read his expression. They weren’t sure what was circling through Roman’s head, or if he needed helped, or even if Roman was... okay. Roman cleared his throat. “They can wait, though. I, um...” He didn’t sound like he wanted to wait, and that puzzled Declan. “Can I see Father?” 

A sad expression flashed across the Queen’s face, before she recomposed herself and stood up. “Yes, of course.”


	59. Chapter 59

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: feeling ill, fainting

As much as they hated to admit it, Patton was not feeling fine. They weren't sure _what_ was wrong, exactly... 

No, that was a complete lie. They knew _exactly_ what was wrong, but they didn't want to _accept_ that. Acknowledging what was wrong would mean that Virgil had been right, and it also meant that Virgil would blame himself for how Patton felt. And besides, Patton could deal with this. They would be just fine. They always were fine. 

They didn't feel cold anymore, walking across Nochae. It must have been midday now - they'd stopped for a brief rest at a nearby temple, where Remus had taken a quick power nap and the other three had sat in silence, Virgil and Logan both concerned about Patton but refusing to admit it. And with that weird mood in the air, it didn't seem like a great time to celebrate their success. 

Now they were on the road again, and Patton wished that they'd followed Remus' footsteps and taken a nap as well. Not because they were particularly tired, but because they felt they could collapse at any moment, and they'd actually felt the same way back at the temple, so perhaps they should have taken their chance to collapse without causing too much concern. 

They took off the coat that Virgil had given them and handed it back, feeling they may faint from the heat on top of everything else. Virgil looked concerned by this, but took the coat anyway and put it back on. Patton kind of wanted to take off their own coat as well, but kept it on as to not alarm the others too much. And also because they were still in Nochae, and, as warm as they did feel, they didn't think walking around in just a shirt and an incredibly thin cardigan would be a particularly good idea. 

For a brief second, everything went dark. Patton stopped walking, as first confused and then a little scared, as they... they couldn't see anything, at all. Just darkness. And their eyes, their head, their entire body was hurting, on fire, eating away at itself, and-

They breathed in, sharply. Virgil was there besides them. They could see again. After blinking a few times, they gave Virgil a quick reassuring smile and continued walking. This was fine. Everything was fine. Maybe they'd just gone blind for a second, but... but that didn't mean anything. Everything was fine. 

"Pat, are you-" 

"I'm fine." Patton plastered on a bigger smile. "Just got a little dizzy again. Don't worry." Another lie. Maybe if they continued to lie, it would become the truth. Everything was fine. 

Everything was not fine. Patton was now on the ground, in the snow, their entire body on fire, and the others were crowding round them in concern, and they just wanted everyone to go away. Their voices were muffled, and Patton's vision was going dark again - they weren't sure if they were closing their eyes, falling asleep maybe, or going blind again, but either way it probably wasn't good. No, _definitely_ wasn't good. They sunk deeper into the snow, trying to cool themself down in the ice, but it didn't seem to be working. They felt hands all over them, heard shouting but couldn't pick up any words, and maybe they should just succumb to the darkness, maybe then they'd get some peace and quiet, maybe-

No. No, they couldn't do that. 

But maybe they didn't have a choice. 

~*~ 

"Patton," Virgil said, over and over again, scooping his partner up in his arms. "Patton, come back. You're okay. Come _on_ , Patton!" 

Logan and Remus stood over him, looking down at Patton as well. Logan cleared his throat. "Have they fallen asleep again?" 

Virgil felt as though he was close to tears. This wasn't sleeping - their chest wasn't even _moving_! What- What if- 

No. No, Patton would be fine. They had to be. 

"Don't just stand there!" Virgil shouted, snapping his head back to Logan and Remus. "Get a first aid kit, or something!" 

Logan hesitated, but went to dig in the bags to find their first aid kit, whilst Virgil turned his head back to Patton. A few black marks had begun to appear on their face, swirling patterns similar to the ones on Virgil's arm. Except these marks didn't seem to be a sign of help - they seemed to be _hurting_ Patton, to be... 

"Fuck," Virgil muttered. This was all his fault. He should have protested more. He _knew_ that something like this would end up happening. He had hurt Patton, and Patton had _known_ that he would and yet they still allowed him to do it, _and he had._

Patton was going to die from this, if they didn't act soon. Virgil didn't even know _how_ to help Patton, it wasn't as if... Patton didn't have any clear wounds, proven by how Logan seemed unsure as to how to use the first aid kit to assist them. Breathing in, Virgil tried to withdraw his darkness, he was _sure_ that was what was harming Patton. He closed his eyes and tried to summon the darkness within Patton back to him, but once Virgil opened his eyes he noticed the marks had only gotten bigger, he'd only made this worse. He dropped Patton into the snow and jumped back, moving away. 

Logan glanced up at him. "Virgil, I kinda need you to-" 

"I'm making it worse," Virgil said, clinging onto his arm. His cloud rose up over his body, circling now at his waist and only growing taller. This wasn't going well. 

"I'll carry them!" Remus volunteered. 

Logan continued staring at Virgil. Virgil gave him a small nod. 

"Alright, Remus, you take Patton. We'll carry on walking to Silvales, hopefully they'll either wake up on the way, or..." Logan trailed off. 

As per Logan's instruction, they continued their journey to Silvales, Virgil finding himself walking a little way away from the group, trying to keep his shadow far away from everyone else. His cloud wasn't harmless anymore, if it touched anything then- He didn't want to think about that. It'd be fine. As long as he kept his shadow away from all living things, everything would be fine. Eventually Patton would wake up, just like Logan said - Virgil found himself glancing back at Patton every so often, checking to see if they were awake yet (they still weren't) - and if they didn't, perhaps someone in Silvales would help. Eventually, things would be fine. At least Virgil didn't have any plants to worry about killing, like he always did back home in Therba. 

Something emerged from the snow in front of them. A great beast, angry looking. Virgil heard Logan sigh in annoyance, and mutter, "Are you _kidding_ me?" 

Logan floated up into the air, launching into a battle with the snow monster, shooting stars at it and circling around its body. Remus dropped Patton and went to join in on the action, shooting his own poison at the beast and occasionally hitting it with his mace. Eyes widening, Virgil rushed over to Patton and caught them before they hit the ground, going to set them down gently in the snow before going to fight as well. He wasn't sure what this was, but Logan seemed pretty annoyed about the whole thing, and also seemed to know what he was doing, so Virgil mostly just followed him, sending bursts of darkness towards the creature every now and then. Eventually, it sank back down into the snow, and Logan let out a sigh of relief. 

"What the _fuck_ was that?" Remus asked, panting. 

"Snow golem," Logan said, landing on the ground again. "Minor annoyances, really. They don't tend to show up a lot anymore, but I believe there's a nest around here somewhere. 

Remus went to pick Patton up again - they seemed fine, but huddled up against Remus' chest for warmth. Two thoughts came to Virgil's mind: one, _Patton was alive_ , and two, that should be _him_ holding Patton up to his chest. But he knew what would happen if he had hold of Patton for too long, and... 

They ran into a few more snow golems, which weren't that difficult to take care of, until the Silvalan border was in sight, snow becoming less prevalent the closer they got. Patton was still unconscious - no, asleep. They were just sleeping. Resting. Virgil assumed they were very ill, and that was why they needed so much sleep now. They weren’t dying. They’d be fine. 

They crossed over the Silvalan border and Remus took over from Logan in leading the way, winding his way through the tall trees, away from any civilization that Virgil could see. It was dark now, the sun having set a while ago and the trees blocking out any other light. Logan summoned a few balls of light to help illuminate their path, but they didn’t really do much to help. Virgil thought that was fitting. 

Silvales wasn’t exactly what Virgil had been expecting. He’d always assumed it was this brilliant, magical place, overfilled with nature and laughter and purity. The Silvales that he walked through now was none of that - it was dark and gloomy, the trees towering over him, blocking out the sky, and rain poured down from the heavens, soaking the four of them wet through. Perhaps it was just because it was late, and they were in a more secluded part of the country. And, in all fairness, Virgil wasn’t in a great mindset at that moment. Perhaps it would be better in the morning, or when Patton was awake and well, or... 

“It’ll be okay,” Logan murmured, moving to walk besides Virgil. 

Virgil moved a few steps away, keeping his distance from Logan, but continued to speak to him nonetheless. “How do you know?” 

“If it wasn’t going to be okay, the stars would have told me,” Logan said. 

Virgil blinked. He’d forgotten that Logan could essentially see into the future, even if it was sometimes difficult to decipher. He glanced down at Logan’s bare arms, stars moving across his skin. The ink had washed off in the rain, but Virgil could still see constellations appearing on him, providing the tiniest bit of hope. “Do you think you could-“ 

“I can try,” Logan said, apparently understanding what Virgil was asking of him. “When the rain stops, at least. I can’t really draw when my skin is this wet.” 

“Yeah, of course.” Virgil shoved his hands into his pockets. “But do you think-“ 

“I _know_ that Patton will be fine, Virgil,” Logan said. “Don’t think that I didn’t consider this outcome when I set you two on this task. Yes, it’s quite dangerous for you two’s magic to be mixed, but it isn’t the end of the world. Patton has quite a strong immune system when it comes to magic, unlike anyone you may have hurt with your magic back in Therba. They’ll be able to recover. It may take a while, but they’ll be fine.” 

“What if...” Virgil stared at the floor. “What if they do get better, though, and we still spend the rest of our lives together, and... and it happens again? They fall ill all over again, and _this_ time there’s nothing we can do about it, and- and they- y’know. And it’s all my fault.” 

“Virgil, _don’t worry_ ,” Logan said. That really wasn’t going to help - Virgil couldn’t just _stop_ worrying - but perhaps Logan already knew that. “Whilst we’ve been on this trip, you’ve made significant progress in learning to control your powers. I believe that you’ll be able to keep yourself and others around you perfectly safe, even with magic that can cause harm. Everyone’s magic can cause harm, it often does in their childhoods before they know _how_ to control it. You’ll be _fine_.” 

Virgil was silent for a moment, breathing in and out. Logan didn’t seem to mind about him not responding. Logan was right, things would be fine. “Thank you,” he breathed. 

The rain had stopped. Virgil glanced up. The Silvalan Palace was in sight.


	60. Chapter 60

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: hospitals, illness

Remus led the group through the Palace, heading towards the infirmary to get some help for Patton. He was... a little glad to be back at the Palace, he supposed. He wasn't particularly looking forward to having to see his mother and father again, knowing that they'd _probably_ say something about his hair or his magic or remind him that he was a 'prince' and had 'responsibilities' or whatever. Ha, like _they_ could talk - he was the one out here fighting in the war, whilst they were tucked safely away in the Palace. He was the one constantly risking his life for a cause he wasn't even sure if he _believed_ in, whilst they just sent more and more soldiers onto the front line, to their certain deaths, still no closer to ending the war. It was pointless, it was _all_ pointless. 

But Remus didn't have time to complain. For now, his one priority was making sure that _Patton_ was okay. And healing his father, he supposed, although he wasn't as desperate to do that than he was to save Patton. It would be a real shame if he _couldn't_ save Patton, because Patton had risked their life to save the King, and- oh gods, what if the flower didn't even work? What if Patton had risked their life for _nothing_? 

No, he didn't have time to be thinking about that, either. The group turned into the infirmary and Remus went to place Patton down on one of the beds. Patton curled in on themself, now beginning to shiver from the cold. They were still very much alive, at least, and seemed to be gaining more consciousness every second. They were getting better. They must have been. 

A few nurses rushed over and began checking over Patton, as Logan fed them in on the details. Virgil moved over to the other side of the room, and Remus joined him, still looking over at Patton with concern. Remus couldn't help but notice Virgil moving away slightly. He raised an eyebrow. 

"You can stand next to me, y'know," Remus said. "I'm not diseased." 

Virgil just glared at him. He didn't say anything, though. Remus came to the realisation that it perhaps wasn't _Remus_ that Virgil was afraid of. 

"You're not going to hurt me," Remus said, softer. 

Virgil shoved his hand in his pockets. 

"I get it," Remus said. "You're scared about hurting others. I used to feel the same way. We all probably have, at some point - I know Roman has, and Patton’s always afraid of hurting others so they probably have to. And I have. My poison has hurt too many people for me to count. It can, uh, get out of control, sometimes. Parents used to tell me that I wasn't allowed to use it in the Palace in case I ended up breaking something." He chuckled. 

Virgil still said nothing. He wasn't much of a talker, Remus supposed. But it was a little worrying. 

"Listen," Remus said, "Patton isn't going to blame you for what happened. They love you. They won't be mad at you." 

"Why _shouldn't_ they?" Virgil snapped. 

Remus wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. 

"It is my fault," Virgil mumbled. "We both knew that this would happen, and... and I still _let_ it happen. Just..." He looked over to the nurses, breathing in and out. "What if they can't help them?" 

"They will be able to," Remus said. "Our healers are almost as good as Lanamia's." 

Virgil bit his lip. "I'm just... scared." 

Remus nodded. "We all are, Virgil. And that's fine. You're allowed to be." 

There was a loud gasp from the hospital bed on the other side of the room. Remus tilted his head around to get a better look around the nurses. Patton had sat up. _Thank the gods._

Virgil rushed over before Remus walked over himself, both going to the side of the bed. "Patton," Virgil breathed, "are you-" 

"What happened?"

"You..." Virgil trailed off. He stepped away, moving back towards the wall, away from Patton. Remus couldn't help but notice the confused, maybe slightly hurt expression on Patton's face. 

Logan cleared his throat. "You were unconscious through most of the journey across Nochae," he said, as Patton turned their head to face Logan. "We're in the Silvales now, at the Palace." 

Patton's eyes fell to the bed below them. "I..." 

"Are you feeling okay, Patton?" Logan asked, genuine concern in his voice. 

Patton looked back up at him, a huge, probably manufactured smile on their face. "Yup! I must have just been a little tired. Used a lot of magic, y'know?" 

"That's absolute _bullshit_ ," Remus said, sitting down on the side of the bed. "Again, Patton, are you okay?" 

They looked down at their hands, beginning to shake a little. Their smile faded. "Yeah," they said, anyway, "I'm fine. Just a little shaken, I think. Nothing to worry about." 

Virgil sighed. "Listen, Pat, Remus is right. I-" He breathed in. "You have her mark." 

Patton frowned. "What?" 

Virgil drifted closer to the bed and held out his arm. Patton did the same. They stared down at each other's arms for a second, before Patton looked up at Virgil, fear in their eyes. Remus couldn't see anything on either of their arms, but... 

"I'm sure it's fine," Patton said, drawing their arm back. "You said we're at the Palace, right? Are Roman and Declan here yet?" 

A couple of the nurses nodded. 

"Then let's go find them!" They began to get out of bed, a couple nurses going to hold them back. 

"Patton, you need to rest," Logan said. 

"I'm all rested up!" Patton claimed, pushing past the nurses and jumping to their feet. They swayed a little from side to side upon making contact with the floor, and Remus noticed them cringe slightly, their hand almost reaching up to their forehead but apparently preventing themself from doing so. "See, just fine!" They were not fine, no matter how hard they tried to convince the others. But maybe they'd _have_ to be fine, for the sake of the mission. 

"Alright," Logan said, sounding a little skeptical. He turned to the nurses. "Do you know where Roman and Declan are?" 

"They went up to see the King," one stated. 

Remus hummed. "He's still alive, then?" Did a part of him _want_ the King to be dead already? Maybe. It would be a shame, he supposed, if they went all that way to find a cure just for the King to die before they arrived. But at the same time, Remus really didn't care. His father had never done anything for him. Him dying would really be a huge weight off Remus' shoulders. 

"Yes," the nurse said, "and I hope that he remains that way." 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Remus turned towards the door. "Are y'all coming?" 

The group all nodded and followed Remus out, through the Palace again and up towards the Kings chambers. Remus allowed himself to look around the Palace this time, now that he didn't have to worry about Patton. It looked pretty much the same as what he remembered, except... emptier. As they walked through the many halls and up winding staircase, navigating the maze of a Palace, Remus saw maybe two or three servants, certainly no one that he recognised. He supposed a lot were off fighting in the war, but it was still a little unsettling, so see so few people in a place that was usually bustling with life. 

And there was also... a weird feeling in the air around him, a feeling of dread. The usually vibrant green walls seemed a little faded, dulled, and the usually smooth floors were cracked in some place. It seemed to be going into ruin, slowly, with not so many people to keep it all in order. Some paintings had been taken down from the walls, leaving lighter squares where the paintings used to be. Doors were locked, leading into rooms that were usually open to the _public_ , kitchens and libraries, seemingly abandoned. 

They headed up the final staircase up to the Kings chambers, hidden way up in the West Tower. Remus breathed in and out - perhaps he'd walk into the room and find his father's corpse, family stood around crying, and he probably wouldn't cry which would in turn concern the rest of his family, but, hey, his father would be gone at least. As horrible as it sounded, part of him _wanted_ that scenario. It was unlikely, but... 

Remus entered the room and was not met with that scene. Instead, his father laid in his bed, with his mother and Declan stood by the window, observing, and Roman by his father's side, the two engaged in a whispered conversation. Remus glanced back at his friends, before rushing to his father's side, kneeling down besides Roman. 

"Remus?" his father said, his voice quiet and hoarse. 

Remus nodded. "Yup. I'm here." 

Roman glanced at him, smiling. "Remus," he breathed. "Are you-" 

"I'm all good," Remus interrupted, focusing back on his father. "Are you okay, Father?" 

"I-" He exploded into a coughing fit. 

"Ah." Remus hummed. "Yeah, doesn't sound good." 

Once recomposing himself, his father frowned. "Did you dye your hair again?" 

"Huh?" Remus felt his hair, probably an even brighter green from when he dyed it again just before setting off. "Oh, yeah." 

"I told you to stop doing that. It's really harmful, y'know." 

Remus blinked. Was that... really what his father wanted to focus on just then? When he was _so close_ to _dying_? 

Logan approached the side of the bed. "This may be a bad time," he said, "but perhaps we should give him the cure now?" 

Remus' eyes widened. "Oh! Yeah. We found a cure for you, Father." 

His mother had also joined them, now. "You-" Logan produced the flower, handing it over to the Queen. She stared down at it from a moment, looking completely bewildered. "Is this-" 

"From the song, yeah," Remus confirmed. "We don't know if it'll work, but-" 

"It will work," Logan said. Remus was fairly sure that he was lying. Or perhaps being too optimistic. Or maybe Remus was still just hoping that it _wouldn't_ work. 

"I don't want it," the King said. 

The room fell into silence. He... what? What the _hell_ was he on about? Of course he wanted it! He needed it, to live, to continue ruling like he had done for decades. They'd gone _all that way_ to get this for him, for the sake of Silvales, and now he... 

"Father, I know it's usually _you_ telling _me_ to not be an idiot," Remus said, "but seriously, _don't be an idiot_. You need this." 

His father shook his head. "No. If that _truly_ is our flower, it possesses too much power to waste on me." 

Remus stood up, stepping away. " _No_. Do you have _any_ idea what we've all been through just to get that for you-" 

"It will be worth it in the end," his father said. 

"You'll _die_ if you don't take it." 

"It's my time, Remus." 

"No, I-" 

" _Remus_!" his father shouted, his voice deepening for a moment, echoing around the room. Remus stood there, staring at him, shaking. "Don't argue. This is my choice." 

"But it's-" 

" _N_ _o_." 

He took one look at his father, apparently incapable of forming any more words together, then left, running through the Palace _away_ from everyone else. He didn't think about where he was going, or if anyone was following him, or about the tears slowly escaping from his eyes, acidic tears burning his skin. 

He ended up in his old room, on his bed, trying his best to breathe. Why had this upset him so much? Just ten minutes ago he'd been thinking about how much he _wanted_ his father to die, and now... 

His father was an asshole. Kinda. He'd... Well, he was alright, Remus supposed. He'd always taken care of Remus and Roman, and, whilst he'd certainly _favoured_ Roman, he'd never really _hated_ Remus. Sure, he hadn't been entirely happy with Remus' life decisions, and perhaps critiqued him a little too harshly, always going on about the way that Remus presented himself and how he used his powers to 'hurt himself' (he was never hurt, despite what his father thought, and even if his powers _were_ destructive, he'd never actually _wanted_ to destroy anything), and how Roman was so much better than him, so much more mature and able to rule and a better fighter and so much smarter and managed to keep his magic tucked away within him where it belonged and _why couldn't he be more like Roman?_

Remus gripped his bedsheets, in an attempt to stop his fingernails digging into his skin. It wasn't good. He didn't like this. He didn't like how he was shaking and crying and how his head was _screaming_ and how everything seemed the same as it was when he was younger. Once again, his father wasn't listening to him, and everything was falling to _shit_ , and if his father _died_ because of this _what_ was he meant to do? 

Letting out a frustrated groan, Remus laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. His cheeks were beginning to sting now - his poison didn't _usually_ hurt him, so that was strange. He could feel some more poison leaking out his skin, spreading across the bed below him, and he thought that maybe he could just let the poison consume him. Maybe then his father would be right about _something_ \- his powers would eventually lead to his own destruction. 

There was a gentle knock on the door. "Remus?"


	61. Chapter 61

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: disturbing imagery, discussion of death

Roman stepped into his brother's room, cautiously walking towards his bed. It had been... gods, he hadn't been in this room for _years_. When they were much, much younger, even _before_ Declan showed up on their doorstep, he and Remus used to play in here all the time, have sleepovers every other night, share stories and snacks and keep each other company. Roman had to admit that, over the years, he may have drifted a little further apart from Remus - whilst they did share a dorm back at the Academy, and tended to spend a lot of their time together anyway, it had been a while since they'd just sat down and talked properly, a real conversation, helping each other out like they used to. 

And now Remus seemed on the verge of a breakdown. Or, well, basically in a breakdown already. He looked... Well, he certainly didn't look _good_ , crying on his childhood bed in a pool of his own poison, life seeming to fade from his face. Roman approached slowly, climbing up onto the bed and kneeling down, his hand slowly reaching out towards Remus. Remus took one look at him, then turned on his side, shuffling away. 

"Go away, Roman," he mumbled, his voice gravelly. Roman withdrew his hand, but didn't move from his position. 

He glanced down at the bed, noticing that the poison surrounding them was steadily increasing. It was beginning to sting Roman's skin a little, but he tried his best not to focus on that - in that moment, making sure that Remus was okay was more important. Roman could be healed later, whenever. _Remus_ had to be helped _now_. 

"Remus, I-" 

"Just _go away_ , Roman," Remus snapped, turning his head to look at Roman. His face was stained with tears, skin literally burning from the poison, and he looked like he'd completely given up. Sad. Roman just wanted to reach over and hug him, to apologise for absolutely everything that has happened, to promise him that things were going to be okay, but... well, if Roman were to do that, chances were that he wouldn't be telling the truth. 

"I'm not leaving, Remus," Roman said, decisively. "Not until you tell me what's wrong." 

"Nothings wrong," Remus said, lowering his head back down to the bed, amongst the acid, now beginning to burn off bits of his hair. "I'm fine." 

"That is absolutely _bullshit_ ," Roman said. 

Remus curled in on himself. "Just let me die in peace." 

Roman's eyes widened. "Remus-" 

"Relax," he said. "I'm... joking." 

"That isn't _funny_." 

"It's not like anyone would even _care_ if I did," Remus said, his voice growing more and more quiet - that was so unlike him, and Roman's concern was only growing. "Father's gonna die anyway. I don't exactly have any _friends_. Our parents _clearly_ don't need my help anyway, so _what_ is even the point?" 

"Remus..." Roman reached out a hand, this time connecting with Remus' shoulder. He could feel his brother shaking under his grasp, steady but shallow breathing. "I'd care. And so would Declan. And Logan. And-" 

"Yeah, _obviously_ ," Remus said, twisting around to face the ceiling. "You three are just about the only people holding me together right now. If Father says one more _fucking_ thing I'm gonna- Oh." He breathed in. "Guess he won't anymore. How come _Father_ gets to die but I don't?" 

Roman sighed. "Father isn't going to _die_ , Remus-" 

"He literally is!" Remus exclaimed. "He's refusing our help. _Accepting_ that it's his time to go. He's basically already gone, Roman. And we could _stop_ it but he won't _let_ us." 

"Why do you even care?" Roman asked. "I thought you didn't like him." 

"I don't! I hate that guy! But..." Remus groaned. "He's still our father. And I know how much he means to you and-" He breathed in, again. "If he dies because the cure doesn't work, that's _fine_. I just... We went _all that way_ just to _help_ someone that I've been _wanting dead_ for _years_ and then he refuses our help? We could have already gone and defeated the Dragon Witches and returned to the Academy and everything would be fine." 

Roman fell silent. He wasn't sure what to say, how to help his brother, how to make him see that everything _was_ fine, that even if their father did die it wouldn't matter. What Remus and the others did was still worth it, they'd eventually find a use for the flower, everything would be _fine_. But Roman couldn't find the right words. And Remus wouldn't listen anyway. 

"I've been through so much _shit_ my entire life because of this war, we could have already _ended_ it by now, we..." 

Roman scooped up one of Remus' hands, squeezing it tight. "We will end the war, Remus. Even if- Even if Father _does_ die-" 

"You mean _when_ he dies," Remus said. "When he abandons us." 

"Yes, sure." Roman breathed in. "When Father dies and I become King, I'll _make sure_ that we end the war, okay?" 

"That isn't going to make it any better," Remus said. "The world is _fucked_ _up_ , and always will be, war or no war. Everything won't just be fine just because there's no more war. Father will still be dead, and my mind still won't leave me alone, and I'm _sick_ of all of this! I didn't _ask_ to be born a prince. I shouldn't have to _deal_ with any of this." 

"You won't have to," Roman said, calmly. "When I'm King, you can do whatever you want, run away, abandon us all. I won't mind." 

"That's not the _point_." Remus groaned. He began to tear at his hair, some strands that had already been affected by the acid beginning to clump off. "I just... _He's_ been an _asshole_ to me my entire life, and then the _one_ time I try to do something _good_ for him he refuses it. It just..." 

"Maybe we can try to convince him otherwise," Roman suggested. 

"No." Remus said up, taking a deep breath in. "No, let him die. That's what he _wants_." 

"I don't-" Roman drummed his fingers on his knees. "I don't think that's exactly what he wants, Remus." 

"Well, we have the ability to save him and he isn't letting us, so yeah, I think that's _exactly_ what he wants." 

The room fell silent again. Remus took several deep breaths, his poison slowly returning to his skin, disappearing from the world. He seemed... a little better, from when Roman had entered the room. Still a complete mess, he supposed - those burns were still on his face, and his hair... well, Roman figured he'd sort it out, at some point. Remus was an idiot, but he wasn't an _idiot_. He knew how to take care of himself. He'd be okay. Or, well... 

"Are you okay?" Roman asked, shuffling a little closer to Remus. 

Remus glared at him. "Oh, I don't know, Roman, I'd say I'm _perfectly_ okay, it's not like I've just been crying or anything." 

Roman cringed. "Alright, yeah, that was a stupid question, I'm sorry." He sighed. Remus' face softened, and he shuffled a little closer to Roman as well. Roman lifted up his arm, allowing Remus to scoot underneath, and the two sat there for a moment, Roman gently rubbing Remus' arms. 

"I'm really not okay," Remus whispered. "I... Things are bad, Roman. They really are." 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Roman asked. 

"Not really." 

Roman blinked. "Oh. Well..." 

"I probably should," Remus said, repositioning himself so he sat up rather than leaned on Roman's side. "I... I've been having nightmares," he said. 

Oh. Roman _did_ recall Remus saying something about that, but he hadn't wanted to talk about it back then. Roman couldn't help but be a little curious about that. 

"They... I've been having them for a while, really, but they've... got worse, recently," he said, slowly. "Since Aquantur. It's been... pretty much every other night, the _same_ nightmare." 

Roman glanced down at him. "Do you...?" 

"Remember last time we fought a Dragon Witch?" Remus asked. 

Yes. Yes, Roman did remember. He remembered looking at Remus' almost lifeless body on the floor, blood seeping onto the dirt below. It hadn't been a pretty sight for anybody, and whilst Patton had got to Remus quickly, Roman had still felt... scared. Terrified, that he was about to lose his sibling. He imagined that the experience had been even worse for Remus. 

"It's just that, over and over," Remus continued. "Her getting me down and hurting me and then Patton saving me but... the pain never goes away. I could still feel it, even when Patton had healed me, and even now just _thinking_ about what happened, and..." He fiddled with his fingers. "And then you got kidnapped by them, and I was _terrified_ that you might..." 

He didn't finish that train of thought. Roman knew exactly what he meant - he didn't particularly want to finish it, either. 

"When... We went to Lanamia, you know that, and on our way up to Caetus we... we ran into a couple spirits," he said. "They... They're supposed to alter reality, or something, show people things and force them to go insane. I don't know, something like that." He took a deep breath. Roman could feel Remus' chest moving up and down. "It showed me you, and the rest of our family, and..." He trailed off. 

"And what?" 

Roman felt something hot and wet land on his arm - Remus was crying again. That wasn't good. 

"You were dead," he whispered. "Bleeding on the floor. And I was dead as well, I think. Our parents were with you, but I... wasn't. They didn't care about me. They hardly seemed to care about _you_." 

Well, that was certainly worrying. Roman had no idea how to respond, what he could possibly say to help Remus. He was not in any way equipped for this. 

"And... And since then, I've been _terrified_ , that you'd die at the hands of the Dragon Witches and I'd end up dead too and there'd be nothing left for our parents and-" 

"We're not going to die, Remus," Roman interrupted. "I won't allow _anything_ to happen to you." 

Remus looked up at him. "But what about you?" 

"You seriously think anything can kill me?" 

Remus snorted. "I could kill you in a heartbeat." 

"Oh yeah?" Roman smirked. "And how would you do that?" 

"Well, firstly, I have a mace," Remus said. "You are very easily distracted by Declan, so all I need to do is get him to train in front of you and you will be completely lost, you won't even notice that I'm behind you. I then hit you over the head, you fall to the floor, Declan will try to fight back but I can knock him out easy as well. Then, it's clobbering time. I hit your skull repeatedly, plus your body for extra measure. I then use your sword - or Declan's sword, I guess - to cut off all your limbs. They will then be distributed across the continent as a way to hide the evidence. I keep the mace and the sword as souvenirs, and maybe one of your internal organs as well." 

Roman stared at him for a moment. "Should I be worried?" 

Remus hummed. "Probably. I mean, I'm not _planning_ on murdering you any time soon, but it certainly wouldn't be _impossible_." 

"Alright, yeah, I'm worried." 

"It's fine!" Remus sank down, going to lay across Roman's legs. "I mean, if you were gonna die I'd rather kill you myself than let some other bitch do it for me." 

He was smiling now. He seemed... more emotionally stable, at the very least. Perhaps all he had needed was a distraction. Or maybe... 

"We should head back," Roman said, quietly. "Say goodbye to Father, y'know?" 

Remus' face fell. "I..." 

"You don't have to say anything to him if you don't want to," Roman promised. "Just..." 

"You want to say goodbye," Remus said. "It's okay. I get it. I... think I'd rather stay here, though." 

Roman nodded. "Okay. That's fine." He got off the bed, beginning to exit the room, and noticed a look of surprise on Remus' face as he looked at Roman, slight fear in his eyes. Roman had _no idea_ where _that_ had come from, but... well, it was probably fine. Remus was okay now. It was fine. 

Remus cleared his throat. "I might come back in a bit. Tell... If he doesn't make it long enough for me to return, tell him I say goodbye, alright?" 

Roman nodded. "Of course. You want me to tell him you love him as well?" 

Remus glanced down. "Tell him... I'm grateful for everything that he's done, and I appreciate having him as a father." 

"Okay." That was fine - Remus had every right to not feel that way about his father, after everything he'd been put through. "We'll be waiting for you, yeah?" 

"Yeah." Remus gave him a small smile. "Thank you."


	62. Chapter 62

Remus and Roman had been gone for a while, and Logan could sense the steadily increasing discomfort in the room. The Queen was sat at the King's side, watching him silently. Declan was staring out the window, hand gripping tight around their sword. Virgil was still refusing to go anywhere near Patton, although they were talking quietly in the corner, Patton looking as though they wanted to get closer to Virgil but Virgil only moving further back at any attempt. Logan himself had taken to pacing around the room, trying to figure out some sort of plan. 

There was no convincing the King. He wouldn't accept the cure and, well, Logan supposed that they'd find another use for the flower anyway. Otherwise, why would the stars have shown him it? The stars had _clearly_ wanted him to get the flower, so it must have been important for their mission, or for their life. If not for the King, perhaps for the war. Yes, yes there'd be a use. 

Although, Logan supposed there were more drastic things to be worrying about. Like the fact that the King was about to die - Logan figured that he didn't have long left, one or two days at most. He really was in a terrible condition, pale skin and sunken eyes, barely able to _speak_ now. 

Roman came back into the room, without Remus. Logan frowned. "Is Remus alright?" 

"Yeah," Roman breathed. "He just needs some time to think." He stepped towards his father's bed, kneeling down besides him and taking his father's hand. Ah - Roman would be lost for hours now, speaking to his father. 

Logan cleared his throat. "I'm going for a walk around the Palace," he announced, hinting to the others that they should probably leave the family alone. 

Patton and Virgil both jumped at this opportunity too, mumbling that they'd both do the same and leaving the room, along with Logan. Logan glanced back, noticing that Declan wouldn't budge from their position, although they now stood facing the bed, with their arms crossed and one leg propped up against the wall. In all fairness, Logan supposed that this _was_ also Declan's family, so if he felt the need to stay as well, then so be it. 

Logan followed Patton and Virgil for a while before turning off and going to walk alone, wandering around the Palace in search of _something_ to keep him occupied. A library, perhaps - surely the Palace would have a library, or even just a study room. Unfortunately, Logan didn't know his way around here, and there didn't appear to be any staff that he could ask either. 

Perhaps he could search for Remus instead. Roman _did_ say that Remus just needed some time for himself, but Logan couldn't help but worry. He... He didn't want Remus to be hurt. He couldn't help but feel somewhat protective over Remus - was that something that came with being in a relationship? Logan was still trying to figure all that stuff out. He loved Remus, he really did, and he wanted Remus to be happy, but... he didn't know _how_ to do that, _how_ to _love_ Remus, how to show him that he cared. Maybe just _being with him_ was enough, but... 

Well, Logan wasn't exactly an expert on romance. He was close enough to Remus that Remus probably knew how Logan felt about him, and Logan wasn't afraid to spend time with Remus, he _wanted_ to spend time with Remus. He always had. Remus was his best friend, and being his boyfriend was surely an upgrade, right? Perhaps it wasn't meant to be any different. Or... perhaps he needed to talk to Remus about it, to understand exactly what Remus wanted, what he needed to give. Some things he wouldn't be comfortable with, of course, and Remus probably knew that, but at the very least talking should ease some of Logan's concerns. 

But now wasn't the time. Not when Remus' father was dying. Not when there was a war going on all around them. Not when they could very easily die the next week, or even the next day. Not until this entire mess was fixed. 

As Logan wandered around the Palace, he noticed one door slightly opened, with a little acid slowly leaking out. That was probably Remus. Logan opened the door a little more and floated inside, careful to keep away from the poison. Remus was stood at his mirror, looking at his reflection with... disgust, concern on his face. 

Logan slowly approached him, landing on the ground next to him, forgetting completely about the poison all over the floor and figuring that there were more important things to be worrying about. Like making sure that Remus was okay. 

He certainly didn't _look_ okay. His face was beginning to blister, and chunks of his hair were missing, some ends completely burned off. Logan had no idea what had happened, if Roman perhaps had something to do with this, why Remus was even so upset right now. Or, well, it did make a little sense, Logan guessed, his father was _dying_ , but... he hadn't even seemed upset back in the King's chambers, just... angry. Or maybe he _was_ upset. Logan wouldn't understand, anyway. 

"Has it happened yet?" Remus asked, glancing at Logan in the mirror. 

Logan shook his head. "No. Roman is talking to him still, I think." 

Remus sighed. "What's going to happen? When he's gone, what'll happen to me?" 

Logan gently placed a hand on Remus' side, and Remus collapsed against him, allowing Logan to embrace Remus in a hug. "Everything will be fine, Remus," he said, softly. "You'll be fine." 

"Everyone keeps _saying_ that everything will be fine, but it _won't_." He breathed in. "Things won't be fine. They aren't now, and they never will be." 

"One day, things will be fine," Logan promised. "Maybe not at first, but eventually, things will be okay. I'll always be here with you, okay? Things may not be good, but we'll survive. _You'll_ survive." 

Remus was silent for a moment. "Father won't, though." 

Logan hugged him tighter. "I know. And I'm sorry." 

"Don't be." Remus pushed away from Logan, going to lean on his dresser and stare harder at the mirror. "I've been waiting for years for that bastard to die. I should be _happy_ right now." 

"He's your father," Logan said. "Even if he's done some... not so good things, you're still family. You're allowed to be upset, Remus." 

Remus didn't respond for a while. He just stared at himself, breathing in and out. Eventually, he closed his eyes. "I should speak to him," he said. "Maybe tell him how I feel. Apologise for being such a shitty kid." 

"Remus, _you_ don't need to apologise for anything," Logan said, calmly. "From the sounds of it, _he's_ the one who should be apologising." 

"Yeah, whatever." He drummed his fingers on the dresser. "I can't go to him like this, though. He'll just be mad at me." 

"Why would he be mad at you?" Logan asked. 

"He... He always wants me to look _presentable_. He already hates the fact that I dye my hair and my horns and..." He breathed in. "He won't want to see what I've done to my hair _now_. And my face. And... everything. I don't want him to see how much of a _mess_ I am." 

"Alright," Logan said, "well, I can maybe help with the hair. We could put some braids in it, he won't even notice that anything's wrong. As for the burns..." 

"One thing at a time," Remus said. "Maybe... Could you do my hair? Please?" 

Logan smiled. "Of course.” He moved over to Remus bed, sitting down cross legged and motioning for Remus to join him. Once he did, Logan reached over to Remus' hair and began to braid it, trying to keep them loose so as to not hurt Remus but eventually tightening them up anyway once realising that loose braids weren't going to help much. Logan himself braided his hair a lot, replacing them every few days, and he used to help braid the hair of some of the younger Nochees in his village, so he was well practised in this art. 

Remus ended up with a few braids running down his back - his hair was actually a lot longer than Logan had realised, even if he had just lost a fair amount - as well as some wrapped around his horns, for a bit of extra style. Upon looking in the mirror, Remus seemed fairly pleased. 

Then there was the problem with the burns. Logan himself wasn't a healer, and whilst he supposed makeup could be used to cover it up, Logan knew that Remus wasn't the type for makeup, and neither was he. He supposed they could search for Patton, but... 

"Roman will have some makeup in his old room," Remus recalled. 

Logan nodded. "Perfect." 

The two exited Remus' room, after a couple moments for Remus to get his poison under control, and Logan followed Remus down the hall to Roman's childhood bedroom. Remus immediately went inside and began rooting around his drawers, eventually bringing out a makeup bag. Logan went to sit on Roman's bed and glanced around, not at all surprised that this was _Roman's_ room - there were paintings hung up all over the walls, all with Roman's signature, as well as a rack of swords along the wall. A weird combination, Logan supposed, although he _was_ aware of Roman's creative passions, even if he hadn't had much time to pursue them during all of this. 

Eventually, Remus joined Logan on the bed, and Logan opened the makeup bag, staring down in confusion. "Okay, yeah, I have no clue what any of this is." 

Remus hummed. He pulled a random bottle. "I think this is what Roman used to use for his skin. Like, as a base?" 

"Okay." Logan opened the bottle and squirted some of the liquid onto Remus' hands, going to rub it on his face. It... did seem to cover up the scars slowly forming, at least. "Please understand that I have no idea what I am doing, and if this makes you look like a complete idiot I apologise." 

"Well, I _am_ a complete idiot, so that'd be fitting at least." He chuckled lightly. Logan didn't react - he was trying hard to concentrate.

After a few more moments, Logan leant back, looking at Remus. He looked... a little better. It was harder to tell that he'd just had a breakdown, at least. 

"Alright," Logan said, "you feeling any more confident?" 

Remus pulled a face that Logan couldn't quite describe. "I... still kinda don't wanna talk to my father." 

Logan hummed. "We can stay here, if you want," he said. "Until you're ready. We can wait as long as you need." 

Remus nodded. "Yes. Please. That'd be great." 

Logan smiled. "Okay." He drummed his fingers on his legs, not entirely sure what to do now. 

"Can we cuddle?" Remus eventually asked. 

Logan glanced up at him. "Yeah, if you want." He opened up his arms, allowing Remus to scoot in. Remus was warm, and nice to hold, and Logan thought that he should do this more often. 

"Can... Can we kiss?" Remus asked, looking up at Logan. 

"Of course we can," Logan said, leaning down and pecking Remus on the lips. "You don't have to ask." 

"I don't want to make you uncomfortable," Remus mumbled. 

"Unless I explicitly state that I do not want to be touched, you can do whatever you like, okay?" Remus was just about the only person that Logan would _let_ do any of this to him, and that was fine. He trusted Remus more than anyone. He... He _wanted_ Remus to be close to him, all the time. He imagined that Remus would still end up asking, but he _hoped_ that in the future they'd reach a point where he wouldn't need too. 

Remus kissed him anyway, longer and harder, and Logan enjoyed it. They didn't have to speak anymore, about anything - they were just happy to be with each other, to be held, to be loved. 

And eventually Remus moved away and got up, and led Logan back up to his father's chambers. And things were good. He and Remus would be good. Remus would be fine.


	63. Chapter 63

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: minor character death, disturbing imagery

Remus peeked his head around the door, noticing Roman once again kneeling at the side of his father's bed. Logan had left Remus alone, allowing him to speak with his family and no one else. Patton and Virgil were apparently nowhere to be found - they were probably fine, Remus hoped. 

He took in a deep breath and stepped into the room, going to stand by Roman's side. His father looked even worse than before, his skin growing paler by the second, almost turning a light green. He was... still breathing, but only barely. Remus had no idea how he had held on for this long. 

"Remus?" his father said, quietly. 

Remus gave him a small smile. "Father. I..." He breathed in, falling down to his knees so he was eye level with his father. "Sorry for shouting earlier. I..." 

"It's okay," his father said. "I'm sorry too." 

"What will happen?" Remus asked, glancing over at Roman. "How... How long do we have?" 

There was a deafening silence in the room. Remus tried his hardest not to shake. He could see his father shaking, though, as well. His mother glanced at Remus, then Roman, then their father, then left the room, giving the twins a small nod of encouragement. The door shut, quietly. Remus moved closer to his father, scooping up his hand. He wasn't going to cry. Couldn't. 

"We... don't have long," his father said. "I, uh..." 

"Are you sure?" Roman asked. "About the flower? We- It's not too late-" 

"I'm sure," their father said. "It's my time to go. That's okay." 

Remus shook his head. "No, it's not your time. There's- There's still so much-" 

"Remus," he said, "I've made my decision." He breathed in. "Roman, you'll make an excellent King, you know that? And Remus-" 

"Yeah, yeah." Remus sighed. "I'll try my best to not screw everything up. Leave Roman to the ruling. Get out the Kingdom, anything you want. No promises, but-" 

"No." The King pushed himself up, cringing a little. "No, I mean... You'll be a great prince, as well. You always have been." 

"It's cool, Father, you don't have to lie to me. I know I'm a fuck-up, yeah?" 

"No, Remus, you're not." His father looked sad for a moment. Remus fell silent. Roman looked vaguely uncomfortable. "I know I'm harsh on you," his father continued, "because, as the royal family, we have a reputation to uphold, and... and I care about you, I don't want you to get hurt. But, when it comes down to it, you care about your Kingdom, and about Roman, and... I appreciate you, okay?" 

Alright, so maybe Remus _was_ going to cry. He leant back, allowing Roman to take control of the conversation again. He wasn't ready to talk to his father about things. He... couldn't forgive him for all the shitty things that he'd done, even if now he was _praising_ Remus - why couldn't he praise him before? Why couldn't he have seen what he had done to Roman? 

And now Roman was becoming King, with Remus doomed to just be a _prince_ the rest of his life. Perhaps that's all his father would ever see him as. A prince, not as good as Roman. Not even his own person. Just... 

Remus didn't even know what his father thought of him. He always thought that his father hated him, that he'd want nothing to do with Remus. That once they were finished with the Academy, perhaps Remus could just leave Palace life - perhaps his father _wanted_ him to leave. Or maybe he didn't. Maybe he wanted Roman to keep him to check, to make sure he didn't ruin that _perfection reputation_ that the royal family had. Ha. As if Remus or Roman would give two shits about that. 

"I'm gonna miss you," Roman said, quietly. "I... I don't think I can even do this, in all honesty." 

Their father frowned. "You don't think you can do what?" 

"Be King," Roman said. "I... I'm not ready." 

"You are," their father said. "You'll be a great King, Roman. Even better than me." 

Roman sighed. "What... What if I don't want to?" 

His father didn't reply to that. Roman didn't have choice either, Remus supposed. He was just as set in his fate as Remus was. 

"Can't Remus be King instead?" Roman asked, awkwardly. 

Remus laughed. "Yeah, no, that's the one thing I can agree with Father on, we all know that'd end in complete disaster." 

Their father looked up at him. "Remus, you... you really think that's what _I_ think?" 

Remus frowned. "Well, yeah? I mean, you always made it pretty clear how much you don't trust me." He raised his hand to fiddle with his hair, almost out of habit, until he remembered the plaits and went to scratch behind his ear instead. "And, y'know, we all know I'm pretty destructive, and don't exactly make the best decisions. Plus, like, the Kingdom doesn't really like me as much as Roman, so-" 

"Remus," his father breathed. "You... I _am_ proud of you, y'know? And I do trust you. You're my son." 

"Well-" 

"I love you more than anything," he continued. "If- Roman has always been my first choice because, yes, he _is_ more sensible, but if you think you can handle it, then-" 

"No." Remus shook his head. "No, no, I can't handle it. Roman was raised for this position. I'll only screw it up. He'll do much better than me." 

Roman glanced over at him. "Remus-" 

"Seriously, Roman." Remus sighed. "Drop it, okay? You'll make an excellent King. You _are_ ready." 

Silence again. Roman's hand fell down and connected to Remus'. He squeezed Remus' hand tight, and looked back down to their father, who exploded into a fit of coughs, skin growing even paler. He didn't have long. 

"Declan?" he said, after recomposing himself. 

Declan stepped towards them, bowing his head. "Yes, your Majesty?" 

"You don't have to call me that," the King said. "You're... just as much my son as Roman and Remus, you know." 

Declan blinked. "I... Okay. Thanks?" 

The King breathed. "Take care of them for me, will you? I mean, I know you'll take care of Roman, but... Remus as well." 

Declan nodded. "Of course." 

"I trust you'll make an excellent King one day as well," he continued, with a chuckle. "Sorry I won't be there for the wedding." 

A small smile crept onto Declan's face, but vanished almost as quickly as it appeared. "It's alright. We'll be thinking of you." 

The King smiled, then looked back down at Remus and Roman. "I love you two. So, so much." 

Roman smiled back. "We love you too, Father." 

Remus didn't say anything. He could already feel tears falling down his cheeks. Perfect. But whilst he couldn't speak, his father seemed to know what he _wanted_ to say. 

Their father closed his eyes.

He was gone. 

Remus stood up, moving away from the bed and closing his eyes. He didn't want to look at his father anymore. He... He doubted that his father would look any different _just_ yet, but... 

He couldn't do this. He watched Roman sink down into Declan's arms, quietly crying, and Remus didn't want to watch that either. So he left the room, collapsing down against the wall, hugging his knees and trying to steady his breathing. 

His mother, waiting outside the door, came and sat besides him, gently rubbing his back. Remus wanted to push her away, because, whilst she had been a _little_ better than his father, he still didn't... think she deserved Remus' affection. She rarely had given it to him before. Always too busy being Queen - as if she had _anything_ to do as Queen, she never helped the King to rule and rarely left the Palace. But... he needed it in that moment, so he sank into her, allowing her to wrap her arm around his shoulders. 

"Has it...?" 

Remus nodded. 

"And he's-" 

"Gone." 

Silence. The Queen didn't know what to say, and Remus could barely force the words out his mouth. For a while, they just sat there, Remus' eyes scrunched tight to try to limit the tears falling out. He couldn't get the image out of his mind, of his father's lifeless body, and it only seemed to get worse and worse, creeping into the realm of fiction. Now a rotting corpse, maggots crawling around his pale green skin. Or then he's alive again but bleeding all over, life slowly draining from his eyes. Then Remus is standing besides him as he dies, blood dripping from his mace. 

Then, he opened his eyes and looked around, not wanting to see _that_ image anymore. It was still there, in his mind, but he tried to remind himself that it wasn't real, that he was here in the Palace, with plants growing up the walls and cracked tiles on the ground, and his mother beside him, holding him tight. His mother smelt vaguely of lavender - her perfume, he guessed, his mother had always loved the smell of lavender. His mouth felt dry, and no amount of tears would satisfy that. He breathed in and out, trying to force that image away and ground himself back in reality. 

"Why?" Remus let out, his voice hoarse. 

His mother's grip loosened on him slightly. "Why what?" 

"Why..." He coughed, trying to force the words out. "Why did that have to happen?" 

She hugged him again, tighter. "It was his time, Remus. Everyone leaves this world eventually." 

Remus sniffled. "But we could have saved him." 

"He..." The Queen sighed. "He knew." 

"Knew what?" 

"That it was his time to go. We... We can't cheat death, Remus. And I think..." She trailed off. 

Remus repositioned himself, looking up at his mother. He was crying by now, wiping away the makeup and showing those burn marks from earlier, but there was no way to stop it. "Think what?"

She breathed in. "He knew that Roman would do a better job than him. Roman... has a different mind than your father. He knows how to help the Kingdom. Your father doesn't." 

Remus' eyes drifted down to the floor. "Why didn't he just make Roman King, then? Give up his position?" 

"He knew that Roman wouldn't want to take it," his mother explained. "Roman... doesn't want to be King, does he?" 

Remus shook his head. "He doesn't think he'll do a good job. And... I don't know, he doesn't want to be trapped here, I don't think." 

"Yes." The Queen sighed. "Your father knew that the only way that Roman would become King is if there was no other choice. So when he fell ill, he knew it was his time to go. To hand the world over to Roman." 

Remus breathed in. That all made sense, he supposed. Roman was dead set on ending this war, on bringing peace to the continent. And as King, he'd have the power to do that. Roman had different ideas to his father, better ideas on how to fight, and... he could do this. The war would end with Roman in charge. They'd all be free.

Remus leant against his mother's shoulder, closing his eyes again. The images didn't come back, at least. There was just darkness. The feeling of his mother's fingers running across his back in a soothing, circular motion. And the sound of a lullaby, in Ancient Silvalan, the lullaby his mother used to sing to him and Roman. 

" _When red spreads to the leaves,  
__Then blown by autumn breeze,  
__They sit by the fire and sing._ " 

Remus began to sing along with her, his voice quiet at first but slowly gaining more confidence. 

" _When winter comes along,  
__And they still sing their song,  
__They feel they could do anything._ " 

Remus heard the door open and someone stepping out, coming to sit besides them and singing along as well. Roman. 

" _When flowers rule the land,  
__It's spring forming it's band,  
__They sit by the fire and sing._ " 

Remus opened his eyes again, taking in several deep breaths. He stopped singing, but continued to listen. He had stopped crying, now, as well. 

" _Now summertime is here,_  
_The best time of the year,  
__They feel they could do anything._ "

Roman stood up, moving away from the two and breathing in. "We're ending this war."


	64. Chapter 64

Patton somehow ended up outside, walking around the royal gardens. They still weren't feeling _brilliant_ , still feeling a little dizzy if they moved too quickly and they did find it a little hard to ignore the black spots dancing around in their vision, but they figured they were probably fine. They couldn't help but notice Virgil _still_ keeping his distance from them, always moving away whenever they tried to get near. They didn't know why - it wasn't as if they'd done anything to hurt Virgil, so why was he so afraid? Unless... 

Okay, in all fairness, Patton supposed they _weren't_ doing that well. They felt like they could collapse at any moment, almost wanted to just to stop the intense pain running through their limbs every time they moved. But they had to maintain a happy face, an aura of optimism, otherwise everyone else would think that something was wrong, and everything was _fine_. Maybe it had something to do with that mark they now had, the mark they could now see on Virgil's arm as well. Maybe they just had to get used to it - it didn't seem to cause Virgil any pain, but maybe he'd had it a lot longer than Patton, so perhaps they did just need to settle into it. Eventually, everything would be fine. 

Patton's eyes lit up when they saw the flowerbed on the other side of the garden, and they rushed over there, cupping one rose in their hand. It was beautiful, its petals mostly pink but a light green around the edges, and it seemed to be filled with life. For a moment, some of its life seeped into Patton, making them feel just a little better, until they pushed the life back out, figuring the plant needed it more than they did. It grew a little larger and healthier, more roses sprouting around it. 

Virgil came up behind them, smiling fondly. "Back in your comfort zone, I'm guessing?" 

"These flowers are _beautiful_ ," Patton exclaimed, grinning. "Whoever takes care of these knows what they're doing. These plants seem even happier than the plants back in Lanamia!" 

Virgil raised an eyebrow. "They're plants. How can they _feel_ happy?" 

Patton gasped. "Plants have feelings too, y'know!" They let go of the rose, turning to face Virgil. "That's why people sing to them or talk to them to help them grow. They need to be taken care of with the utmost respect, and a ton of love. And a little magic helps, of course." They giggled. 

Virgil just continued to smile at them, looking absolutely smitten. But his smile faded, eyes drifting down to the ground, and he stepped back. "We should probably get out the gardens," he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Don't want to accidentally kill anything." 

"Oh." Patton glanced down, noticing Virgil's shadow slowly making its way towards the plants. He did have a point. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." They walked back towards the entrance of the garden, eventually returning to a courtyard outside the castle, with a fountain in the middle, which they went to sit by. 

"Sorry," Virgil mumbled. "I know how much you love all the flowers. You can... You can go carry on looking, if you want. I can stay here." 

Patton shook their head. "Nah, it's fine. We can stay here. I can literally make flowers out of thin air, I don't need to be wandering around a garden." They had been enjoying the garden, of course, but they enjoyed Virgil's presence even more. "Your, uh..." 

"My cloud's getting worse," Virgil finished, looking down to the ground. It was. It had been, for a while. Patton didn't quite know why, although... they did have their suspicions. 

"Are you doing okay?" Patton asked, scooting closer to Virgil, only for him to move away again. 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Virgil said. "Just... a little anxious, I guess. It gets worse when I'm anxious." He hummed. "Or maybe I get anxious because of it getting bigger? I don't know." He drummed his fingers on his leg. "I don't really know what I'm feeling anymore." 

Patton glanced up at him. "Maybe we should head back to the Academy," they said. "This _is_ a little much for your first mission." 

Virgil shook his head. "No, no. I'm not... I'm not anxious about the mission. I'm just..." He breathed in. "I don't want to hurt you again, Pat. Or anyone. And... And with my cloud like this, I can barely help myself. It's out of control and I don't know what to do." 

Patton hummed. "You were learning how to control it. You were doing so well. Why... Why can't you now?" 

"I don't know." Virgil gripped his trousers, scrunching up his hands into fists. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I just... I just kinda want my powers to go away, in all honesty. Then we can live together happily and I won't have to worry about hurting anyone else." 

"You aren't hurting anyone, Virgil, you-" 

"I _am_." Virgil gripped tighter, his shoulder shaking a little. "I hurt you." 

"I'm-" 

"Don't you _dare_ try to tell me that you're fine! You're _not_ fine, Patton, and you aren't fooling anybody!" Virgil breathed in and out, lowering his voice upon seeing the fear in Patton's expression. "You're ill now, and I know you're feeling a _little_ better, but... you could still _die_ from this, Patton. My darkness has settled within you now, and it will slowly eat you up from the inside out, and then you'll be _gone_ and it will be _all my fault_." 

Silence. Patton reached out a hand, but Virgil just moved away again. 

Patton breathed in. "I'm never okay," they admitted. Virgil's head lifted up, turning to face Patton. "Every single day of my life I'm hurting. Maybe now I'm a _little_ worse but... I can cope with it. I've learnt to cope with it my entire life." 

Virgil blinked. "You..." 

"I get hurt a lot," Patton continued. "I'm clumsy and an easy target for bullies and not exactly the best in a fight. I mean, I'm a healer, healing is all I'm really good at. But... when I try to heal myself, it never really works. It soothes the pain, maybe, makes it easier to forget about what happened, but the wounds never go away, not like they do when I heal others." 

They glanced over at Virgil, noticing that he had repositioned himself to listen to Virgil better, allowing Patton to continue their speech. 

"Last... The last mission we went on didn't end super well," Patton continued. "Remus got hurt real bad, they've never really recovered from... from the trauma of that, though they don't really like to talk about it. After... After they got hurt, I went to heal them, in the middle of the battle. And I got hit as well. Only Logan saw, and I didn't want any of the others to know. Logan stitched me up as best he could, and I tried to heal the rest. You can't see the scar anymore, but it still hurts. It hurts all over. It always hurts, even before _that_ wound in particular. All the bruises and burns and cuts I've got over the years, they never stop hurting. I try to heal them and it _looks_ like they aren't there, but the pain never leaves." 

Virgil reached a hand out towards them, hovering over their shoulder, before he retracted. "That sounds awful." 

"Eh." Patton plastered on a smile, trying to pretend they weren't about to cry. "I'm used to it. I've learned to live with it, over the years, and..." They breathed in. "Whatever you did to me, however much it hurts, I can cope. I don't feel much different than before. Just... a little dizzier now, that's all. I'll survive." 

"You... You do realise that doesn't make it _any_ better?" Virgil said, breaking eye contact with Patton and looking down at the ground. "Like... I don't want you to be hurt _at all_. And, and if I'm making it worse, then-" 

"You're not," Patton promised, to which Virgil's head shot up. "It's okay. _You_ aren't hurting me, Virgil. Maybe- Maybe your magic is, a little-" They tried to ignore how Virgil cringed at that. "-but that isn't _you_ hurting me. And I... I don't want you to think that I'm _fragile_ , or that by touching you I'm automatically going to die. Because I'm not. Even- Even if your cloud ends up hurting me again, that's fine, everything is fine. I'll live, okay?" 

Virgil breathed in. His cloud grew a little smaller. 

Patton opened their arms. "I love you, okay, Virge?" 

Virgil smiled. "I love you too, Pat." He scooted over towards Patton, sinking into their arms, and Patton smiled. The cloud didn't go anywhere near them, at least - of course, if it did, they wouldn't care, but... perhaps Virgil was controlling it now, so that he didn't hurt Patton, and that meant he was learning how to control it more, and that was _good_. Virgil was good. _This_ was good - cuddles and kisses on the edge of a fountain, no longer a care in the world. 

Some people emerged from the Palace, and Patton and Virgil moved away from each other, as the pair moved over towards the fountain. 

"Hey, do you guys work here?" one asked, dragging the other one at his side. 

Patton shook their head. "No, just visiting. We're friends of the princes." 

"Oh!" The second one seemed more confident upon heading that, breaking away from the others side. "You know Roman, then?" 

Patton nodded. "Yup." 

He held out a hand to shake. "I'm Emile," he said, as Patton took his head, "and this is my husband, Remy. We, uh, we were with Roman when he..." He didn't have to finish that statement. 

"Is Roman okay?" Patton eventually asked, as Remy and Emile went to sit down near them. "We haven't really had much time to talk about what happened since getting here." 

Emile and Remy exchanged a glance, which Patton couldn't quite decipher. Remy cleared his throat. "He's alive, at least. We both helped him escape, but... I don't know, we don't really know what went on when he was... there." 

"Oh." Patton hummed. "Well, I'm Patton," they finally introduced. "This is Virgil. I, um..." They breathed in. "Well, uh, what are you doing out here?" 

"We were actually... looking for Roman," Emile said. "And Declan, as well. To say goodbye. We... We were both planning on heading back to Divitunia." 

" _You_ were," Remy countered. "I still think we should stay here, not gonna lie. It's so much safer here than Divitunia." 

"We have _jobs_ , Remy," Emile reminded him. 

"And...?" 

Emile rolled his eyes. "Neither of us are fighters. We... really should head home." 

"I thought you helped save Roman?" Virgil recalled. 

"That... doesn't make us fighters." 

"We're not really fighters either," Patton said, gesturing to Virgil and themself. "We're still fighting." 

"Look, I just don't really feel like dying," Emile said. "Remy feels the same way, I'm sure-" 

"Eh." Remus shrugged. "I mean, I'd be down to punch a few more of those Ignebris bitches." 

" _Remy_." 

"What?" 

A sound came from inside the Palace, some sort of alarm. Patton frowned. "What's that?" 

They looked at Virgil for a moment, before he stood up. "I don't know," he said, "but it seems important."


	65. Chapter 65

Crowds of Silvalans were pouring into the throne room, getting ready for the 'big announcement'. Declan remembered the sound of that horn, from the years they'd spent here, and they knew that it rarely meant good news - the rest of the public probably knew it, too. Roman was getting ready to speak out to his people, to tell them of his father's death and their plans moving forward. Declan had wanted to stand by his side, but he wouldn't let them - he wanted to do this himself. That was fine. Declan ended up with Remus and the Queen at the front of the crowd, watching Roman carefully. 

Logan came by Remus' side. "What's happening?" he asked. 

Remus glanced at him. "It, uh... Roman's making a speech." 

"Has the King-" 

"Yeah." 

A pause. "Oh. I'm-" 

"It's okay." Remus breathed in. "It's okay." 

Patton and Virgil came up behind them, after pushing through the crowd, with Emile and Remy following closely behind. "What's going on?" Patton asked. 

Declan just gestured towards Roman, who cleared his throat and looked over the crowd. Everyone else fell into silence. Roman breathed in and out. 

"People of Silvales," he said, "I... Your King is gone." 

Gasps spread across the crowd, followed by murmurs. Declan kept their eyes focused on Roman, who seemed to be losing more and more confidence by the second. He locked eyes with Declan, who gave him a reassuring smile, and then he continued to speak. 

"My father was a... brilliant man," he said, sounding like he didn't quite believe that but knowing that was what the crowd wanted to hear. "But, he... Things aren't going to be the same without him. I... I'm in charge now, apparently." He chuckled lightly. The crowd didn't seem to find it funny. "I, uh... As my first act, as King, I am going to end this." 

More murmurs. The crowd didn't seem to understand. 

"This war with Ignebris has gone on too long," he continued. "I... This may sound alarming to some of you, and probably isn't what you want to hear, but I recently spent some time in Ignebris. I'm... I'm not going to go into the details, I wasn't there by choice, but I did learn some things that _may_ be of use to us. Everyone- Everyone down in Ignebris isn't so different from us," he claimed, "and it isn't fair, what we're doing to them. Yes, the Dragon Witches in particular have caused significant damage to the continent, especially to our allies over in Divitunia and now even Aquantur, but... I believe that we will be able to unite Ignebris with the rest of us. _Peace_ is the only way forward." 

The crowd didn't seem to know what to make of that. Everyone was silent. Roman looked terrified. 

"Later tonight," he continued, carefully, "I will be contacting our allies fighting in Divitunia and our forces in Ignebris to withdraw." 

Uproar. People were confused, or scared, or angry, maybe all three. Most of all, they didn't support Roman's plan. He backed further away, fiddling with the edge of his shirt. Sighing, Declan stepped towards him, going to stand by his side, to which Roman seemed to relax a little. 

"Quiet!" Declan shouted, soon shutting the crowd up. "The King has made his decision. We'll have to prepare, of course, for a possible attack on our kingdom, but we have protection already in place, and I know there are plenty of capable fighters here who can help. _King_ Roman is right - the only way forward is peace, and _this_ is the only way to achieve that." 

After the crowd fully quietened down, Declan stood back, allowing Roman to continue his speech. Roman sent them a quick 'thank you' smile, then looked back across the crowd. "Myself and a few others from the Academy will be travelling down to Ignebris first thing tomorrow to end this, for good. This war will be over soon, I promise." 

No one cheered, but the crowd seemed to understand what Roman was trying to do. Roman turned, walking away, and Declan quickly followed. The rest of the crowd dispersed, presumably heading back home. Declan followed Roman to a smaller room behind the throne room, where he fell down onto the floor, holding his head in his hands and running his fingers through his hair. Declan said down besides him. "Are you-" 

"This is a terrible idea," he whispered. "It's my first act as king and I'm gonna end up getting the whole kingdom killed." 

"Hey, no." Declan slowly began to rub Roman's back, soothingly. "It's gonna work, okay? We'll end this." 

Roman closed his eyes. "It isn't going to work. I've barely thought this through. And now I've given everyone false hope and-" 

"Roman." He looked up. "It's _going_ to work. We're _going_ to end this. I... I believe in you, okay?" 

Roman breathed in. "Okay. Okay, yeah, sure." They sat in silence for a moment, only able to hear each other's soft breathing, before Roman spoke up again. "I don't want to do this." 

Declan frowned. "You... don't want to end the war?" 

"No, I-" Roman sighed. "I don't want to be King. I'm- I'm not even _officially_ King yet and I'm already screwing everything up." 

"You're not, Roman," Declan said. "You're doing great." 

"You don't have to _lie_ to make me feel better." 

"I'm... not lying." Declan wrapped an arm tighter around Roman, pulling him in. They pretended that they didn't hear Roman's quiet sniffles. "You're already doing so much better than your father. You're at least _trying_ to make a change, instead of allowing endless bloodshed. And you'll succeed, as well." 

Roman breathed in. "Alright. But, even after that, I... I don't think I can do this." 

Declan glanced down to the floor. 

"I'm quitting," Roman decided. "Once the war is over, I mean. I'll step down. Someone else can have the crown." 

Declan frowned. "And what do you plan to do then?" 

Roman shrugged. "I don't know. I'll probably let Mother take over, I know it's not exactly tradition but she'll be a very capable ruler, and after that the crown could go to the people, maybe? I don't know, just... I can't see Remus wanting to take over, and I've been in charge for about half an hour and I've already had enough." He sighed. "When this is done, my plan is to head back to the Academy, finish my education, then maybe travel for a while? Get off the continent, see the world. With you, of course. I... no matter how things turn out, I want you by my side." 

Declan smiled, softly. "I'm never leaving your side, my prince-" He paused. "Or... my king?" 

"Prince is still good," Roman said, blushing a little. "Even if I decided to quit the royal family." He frowned. "Can I do that?" 

"It sounds like that's what you're planning to do," Declan said. 

"Yeah." Roman sighed. "I love you, Declan. I feel like I don't say that enough."

"Roman, you say that about a hundred times a day," Declan said. "I'm well aware of your love for me. And I love you too, my prince." 

Roman smiled at him for a moment, but then his smile faltered. "What if... What if we don't make it out of this?" he said, barely above a whisper. "It's... It's risky, we could _die_ , and then we'll never..." He trailed off, but Declan knew exactly what Roman meant. 

They both wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, grow old together, keep each other safe for all eternity. They'd been waiting for the war to end just so they could have peace, time for themselves, the opportunity to show their love to the world. And if they were dead, which they very well might have been in less than twenty four hours, it would be a little difficult to do that. 

Declan looked into Roman's eyes, watching that red flame flicker, remembering just why Declan loved Roman so much. They breathed in. "We should get married." 

Roman glanced around the room, until his eyes settled back on Declan. "Well, yeah? I thought that was already the plan? When all of this is over?" 

"No, I mean..." Declan bit their lip. "You said it yourself. We might... not make it out, and... and I want to be with you. We should... We could just do it now, while we can." 

Roman was silent for a while, a long time, and Declan was convinced that they'd just messed everything up. Except, they knew that this was what they wanted, and it was mostly likely what Roman wanted to, they'd talked about this before, and... Declan didn't want to give up their chance. They hoped that Roman didn't, either. 

Eventually, a smile broke out across Roman's face. "Okay. Yes, yes, we should. There's a chapel behind the Palace, the priest there should be able to officiate it." 

Declan grinned. "Then, let's go." They stood up, pulling Roman up with them. "Do we want anyone there?" 

Roman hummed. "I don't really care. I'm fine with just me and you." 

Declan nodded. "Okay." Their hand fell down, taking Roman's hand and beginning to lead him away. They walked out through the Palace, along the empty corridors. It was nearing nighttime now, and Declan assumed that the others had all headed to bed - most of them didn't know the plan yet, but Declan hoped that Remus had filled them in. 

They walked out in the garden and towards the Chapel at the end, where Declan finally let go of Roman's hand and allowed him to lead. He headed straight towards the priest at the back, who turned to Roman in surprise. 

"My King," he greeted, bowing his head politely. 

"I'd like you to marry us," Roman said, getting straight to the point. The priest frowned at Roman. "Do the ceremony, I mean. For me and Declan." 

The priest hummed. "Do you have a date in mind?" 

"Now would be good." 

The priest looked between the two of them, before nodding his head and turning around, presumably going to prepare. Roman turned to Declan, reaching down for their hand again. "You ready?" 

Declan smiled. "I'm always ready." 

When the priest returned, they let go of each other's hand again and stuck to just staring at each other in complete admiration, as the priest began the ceremony, reading words in Ancient Silvalan that Declan didn't quite understand, but judging by the tears forming in the corners of Roman's eyes must have been good. Eventually, the ceremony came to the vows, and Declan realised that he hadn't thought this through at all. 

Sensing Declan's fear, Roman decided to go first, once again taking Declan's hand. "Declan. Ever since I met you, I knew that was... something about you, something that made me never want to let go. You excite me, you give me so many emotions that I don't know what to do with all of them, you have saved my life way more times than I’d like to admit, and... most of all, you make me feel safe. Whenever I'm around you, I feel at peace, and... and I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if the rest of my life is only a day. I want to stay by your side." 

Roman was crying at this point, but out of happiness, and seeing that made Declan want to cry too. They couldn't - they had a reputation to hold, but _damn_ , after those final words... 

Declan breathed in. It was their turn. "Roman, you... you were the first person to ever show me an ounce of respect," they began, "and, since the day I met you, there hasn't been a single moment that I haven't loved you. You were... my first friend, and my first love, and I wouldn't give up these past years for the world. I know it's _my_ job to protect you, but more often than not it's you protecting me as well - we protect each other, I guess, and... that's everything I could ever want. A safe haven, with you. You're a brilliant person, way better than you let on, and I need you to know that, need you to know that, to me at least, you are the most wonderful person in the world. I love you, Roman. I'm never giving you up." 

Okay, maybe Declan was crying a _little_. They felt their scales shift over him, from pink to yellow to pink again, and saw the huge smile on Roman’s face, which just made them want to cry even more. 

"Roman, do you-" 

"Yes, absolutely." 

"And Declan-"

"Of course, I do." 

"Then I pronounce you husband and husband. You may now-" 

They didn't need the priest to finish that sentence, before they locked lips and allowed the world to fade away.


	66. Chapter 66

They set off at sunrise, heading straight down towards Ignebris. Roman had got himself a new sword - not as good as his old one, as he wasn't used to this one, but he would cope - and filled in the rest of the group with his plan. It was a long shot, in all honesty, but at the very least Roman was confident they could make it to the castle, he just... wasn't sure if the King would listen. He desperately hoped that he would, this really was the only chance of peace, for everyone, even for Ignebris. 

Everyone was with him, prepared for the upcoming fights. Even Emile and Remy had decided to tag along, as they were the only two who actually remembered the location of the castle - whilst in Ignebris, Roman had been too busy being kidnapped, and Declan had been too busy worrying about the fact that Roman had been kidnapped. Everyone seemed well rested and prepared for whatever was to come, and, for once, Roman was completely confident in his ability to pull this off. Things were going to work perfectly. 

Five steps away from the Ignebris border. Roman glanced down at his husband - his _husband_ \- who looked up with a comforting smile. His last trip to Ignebris hadn't been brilliant, and he was still terrified that returning would only make his situation worse - what if the Dragon Witches found a way to control him again? What if they drew him in again, completely took over? He... He wasn't _one of them_ , but he was still one of them, sort of, and he hated the thought that he may have no choice but to join them for real. And he didn't want to do that. He didn't want to hurt any of his friends, or his _husband_. 

"Roman," Logan said, as they crossed over the border, "I know we have a plan for what to do when we _get_ to the castle, but have you thought about the actual journey there? I mean, look at us, we're in a big group and not exactly well hidden." 

"We've fought Dragon Witches before," Roman stated. "I... For my plan to work, I think _killing_ them may not be the best idea, but if we have to-" 

"If we kill them, the King will see our arrival as an act of war, not peace," Declan stated. "We'll knock them out at most. Just to get past them." 

"It's not exactly the Dragon Witches I'm concerned about," Logan said. "You just called all the forces back from the fights in Divitunia, so many soldiers may return here, plus there's the soldiers _already_ here-" 

"The soldiers here are weak as shit," Remy said.

"Honey, we did get captured by them, remember-" 

Remy nudged Emile to shut him up. "Not before we fought them, though." 

"That fight did _not_ end well-" 

"Shh." 

"We can do this, okay?" Roman said. "The castle isn't that far away from the border, right? We should be there soon, it's too early for everyone in Divitunia to have returned just yet." 

Virgil's eyes widened. "Uh, guys?" 

Roman frowned and followed Virgil's gaze. Oh. Oh, okay, yeah, that wasn't good. Three Dragon Witches flying their way, along with an army of Ignebris soldiers underneath. Brilliant. Maybe Roman _should_ have thought through this plan a little more. 

He breathed in. "Alright. Remy, Emile, take care of the army-" 

"What?" Remy said, blinking in surprise. 

"It's hardly an _army_ ," Declan said. "There's, like, fifteen of them. Emile, you still have that staff from the Palace, right?" 

"Yup." 

"Use that, you can take them down easy," Declan said.

Emile and Remy nodded. "Alright," Emile said, beginning to head off towards the soldiers, along with Remy. 

"As for us," Roman continued, "we should try to split the Dragon Witches apart. Logan, you think you could-" 

"Got it." Logan floated up into the air and summoned stars around him, before flying straight towards the Dragon Witches. One came towards him, meeting him midair, and Roman desperately hoped that he could hold himself. 

"Alright." Roman glanced at the others. "Virgil, make a shadow and hide Patton, for now," he ordered. "Just in case one of us gets injured, so they can get to them as soon as possible." 

Virgil hesitated, but did as instructed, leading Patton a little away from the battlefield. Roman looked at the other two. "Alright, Remus, you take one, I'll take the other. Declan, turn invisible, if any of us need help you come in." 

They both nodded and got into their positions, and Roman ran up to the final Dragon Witch, landing on the left side of the army, with Remus going to meet the other landing on the right. Alright. Alright, this was fine, they could _do this._

~*~ 

Admittedly, Logan maybe shouldn't have listened to Roman when he ordered that they take on the Dragon Witches one-on-one. _Maybe_ he should have argued against that, explained why that was such a terrible idea, but in the heat of the moment Logan guessed that there wasn't much else of an option. The group was only used to taking on one Dragon Witch at a time, not three _plus_ other soldiers. Either way, they needed some sort of a plan, and Logan had (begrudgingly) allowed Roman to take charge this time. 

But Logan _was_ beginning to grow tired, and he wasn't any closer to getting this Dragon Witch down. He'd tried to keep his distance from her at first, just sending beams of light in her direction in an attempt to distract her and make her fall to the ground. However, she'd got closer, and Logan had now resorted to diving around the Dragon Witch's body, desperately trying to avoid her attacks. That was the best thing to do - avoid anything that could harm him, perhaps keep her moving until she grew tired herself. He just hoped that would happen before _Logan_ collapsed from exhaustion, or before she managed to land a hit. 

So far, nothing seemed to be working. Logan had even landed a few hits himself - a kick on her legs, a punch in her stomach. She hadn't managed to land a single hit, although the fire spreading around them did seem to be getting closer. That wasn't her strongest option, though - it was really her talons that Logan needed to be looking out for, he'd seen the damage that they could do. 

Logan's eyes widened as the Dragon Witch's tail collided with his chest, and he felt himself falling towards the ground. _Shit_. He felt a sharp pain in his back and heard a crack upon impact with the ground, and then saw the Dragon Witch shoot down towards him. 

~*~ 

Remus bashed the Dragon Witch with his mace and shot a burst of poison in her face, watching her stumble back and hiss in pain. Smirking, Remus tightened her grip around her mace and charged again, ready to deliver the final blow. 

The Dragon Witch raised her talons and Remus faltered. She felt a sharp pain in her arm, even though she knew she hadn't been hit. No, no, she'd be fine. She knew that last time things hadn't ended well, but so far the battle was going good! She'd surprised the Dragon Witch with her acid abilities, immediately catching her off guard, and she was _so close_ to winning the fight! She just- 

That winged fire tattoo was still burnt in her mind, the last thing she saw before complete darkness, and the tattoo was there again, in real life, right in front of her. She'd- She'd seen that tattoo on Roman's arm as well, the day before, and... she was scared, to say the least, that something bad had happened to Roman, but he wouldn't tell her anything about it. 

Out the corner of her eye, she saw Logan hit the ground. Fuck. Okay, no time for a breakdown right now. She hit the Dragon Witch with her mace again and watched her fall to the ground, before rushing over towards Logan and sending a beam of acid towards the Dragon Witch heading down. The Dragon Witch's skin burnt and she fell to the floor as well, a good distance away from the two of them. Remus wrapped her arms around Logan, lifting him a little off the ground. 

"Are you-" 

"I'm okay," Logan said, although he cringed upon contact with Remus. 

Remus shook her head. "No, we- we need to get you to Patton." She stood up, carrying Logan bridal style, and glanced around the battlefield, searching for Virgil's cloud. _There_. She rushed over towards it, placing Logan down on the ground. "Patton, can you-" 

~*~ 

Declan slashed at the Ignebris soldiers, slowly making his way around the 'army'. They hadn't even suspected that Declan was there, apparently all too focused on getting past Remy and Emile. Those two were... well, they were holding their ground fairly well, and Remy _could_ throw a good punch, just like he said, but ultimately those two weren't that useful in battle. Declan had been knocking down soldiers left and right, and the most that either of the Divitunians had done was hold the army back long enough for the others to get to their respective Dragon Witches. 

He couldn't see what was going on with the others, but he didn't want to assume anything, and... well, he desperately wanted to get done with this army so that he could go help out. He made it out the back of the crowd and, as he was now away from any of the soldiers, he took some time to survey the battlefield - two Dragon Witch's were down, and Remus and Logan were nowhere to be seen. He glanced over at Roman, noticing how his husband was covered in blood. Oh - oh _fuck_. 

Declan ran over there, hoisting his sword over his head and slashing at the Dragon Witch's wing. She cried out in pain and turned around, allowing Declan to head over to Roman. He reappeared in front of his husband, crouching down at his side. "Roman-" 

"Declan," Roman breathed, trying to move towards him but cringing. 

"What happened?" Declan asked. Roman didn't look _as_ bad close up, but there was a large cut on his arm and forehead, and blood soaking through his clothes. 

Roman opened his mouth to respond, but didn't get the chance before the Dragon Witch attacked again. Declan held up his sword again to block the Dragon Witch's talons, and Roman raised his sword as well. They got up and fought her together, arms linked as they surged forward. She backed away, eventually leaping up into the air and turning back, flying a little lopsided at the lack of one wing. A moment later, whatever remained of the army dispersed as well. Declan frowned. "What-" 

Roman tugged Declan away. "Let's just get back to the others," he said. "Don't feel like dying of blood loss right now." 

That snapped Declan out of his brief confusion and right back into his concern for his husband. He nodded, then led Roman over to Virgil's cloud, Emile and Remy following behind.


	67. Chapter 67

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: fainting

Patton had to admit that they were just a little skeptical about Roman's plan. They didn't want to tell him to rethink, or anything - they were _sure_ that he had it under control, and they trusted his leadership, of course, but... 

No, no. Roman knew what he was doing. They'd take down the Dragon Witches easily and the rest of the journey to the castle would be fine. Even- Even if Patton's condition was slowly getting worse, especially now that they were being exposed to even more of Virgil's shadow whilst the two waited. 

Waited. Neither had any idea what was going on out there. Virgil seemed even more on edge, sitting in the middle of their dark bubble, unable to see what was happening to their friends. And Patton was just sat on the ground as well, finding it increasingly difficult to breathe - they couldn't tell if that was something to do with Virgil's darkness, or just nerves. Both seemed equally likely, and Patton hated that fact. 

In and out. In and out. Over and over, deep breaths to try and get a grip back on reality. All that did was force them to suck more of the cloud into their body, only making this worse, but _not_ breathing wasn't going to be any help either, was it? No, no, they'd be fine. This would be fine. 

Virgil wrapped an arm around Patton, protectively, and Patton calmed down a little, able to breath a little better. The air still burnt their lungs, feeling like it would tear them apart from the inside out, but Virgil was here besides them and that made everything okay. At least- At least _Virgil_ was safe in all of this, hidden away from the enemies, at least Patton knew that Virgil would survive this, they had _no idea_ what they'd do if he didn't- 

"Pat, are you-" 

"I'm fine," they choked, not sounding fine at all. 

"We should get you out the cloud, it's-" 

"No, no." They plastered on a smile. "We gotta stick to the plan, right?" Their voice was hoarse and everything hurt and they were worried that if they moved even a little bit, just to get to safety, they'd just collapse into nothingness. 

Virgil just hugged them tighter and they were grateful for that. It would be fine. The battle wouldn't be on for much longer, and then they could get out of here, and then the war could end, and then they'd finally get their happily ever after, right? 

They glanced down at their arms, noticing that black pattern slowly expanding. That didn't look good. Virgil seemed to notice as well, as he loosened his grip around Patton and began to back away, but Patton pulled him close again. "Don't leave," they said. 

Virgil stiffened. "I- I don't want to hurt you, Pat." 

"You're not, it's fine." 

"Patton, it _isn't_." 

Patton looked down at the ground. Okay, yeah, so maybe Virgil was a _little_ right, big deal. "I... I'm scared." 

Virgil didn't seem to know how to respond to that, but thankfully he didn't need to, as Remus soon burst into the bubble holding Logan in her arms. Nice, a distraction. They scrambled out of Virgil's arms and came up to Logan's side. 

"Patton, can you-" 

"On it," Patton said, with a forced grin. Patton looked around Logan, trying to find what was wrong and how they could help - no clear cuts or anything, but that there were bruises all over his body, and- 

"Think I may have broken some bones," Logan said, far too casually. “Fell- Fell pretty far out the sky-" 

Patton's eyes widened. Okay, that was _not_ good in the slightest. They hovered their hand above Logan's body, moving it up and down. It shouldn't be anything a few of their flowers wouldn't fix, but... 

No flowers came out. Huh? 

"What are you waiting for?" Remus asked, anxiously bouncing on the spot. 

Patton blinked. "I- It's not working," they mumbled. "Nothing's- Nothing's coming out-" For a split second, their vision went completely dark, and then remained blurry once it returned. A dizzy feeling, again, and a sharp pain up their arm, spreading across to their torso and finally their head. They leapt back from Logan, clinging their forehead as if they would make the pain go away. 

"Are you okay, Pat?" 

"I'm- I'm fine-" Darkness again. They felt their head hit the floor, before they opened their eyes and saw Virgil and Remus leaning over them. They breathed in and out. They were fine. They were _fine_. 

The rest of the group entered the bubble, and Patton was absolutely not fine. It looked as though Roman was head to toe in blood, with the others not looking much better, but if Patton couldn't even summon a _single flower_ how were they supposed to heal all of them? 

They were in Virgil's arms now and they could feel their body tingling, heat rushing to their head, less and less oxygen entering their lungs. People were speaking around them, rushing around the area, panicked, but Patton could barely work out what was going on. Patton looked up, fixing their eyes on Virgil - they could just about make out the scared look on his face, the deep terror that Patton wasn't going to make it out of this. 

Maybe they weren't. There were always tragedies in war - maybe this had to happen? That would be fine. As long as everyone else got out safely and brought peace like they planned, it would be fine. Maybe they wouldn't be there to see it, but... the rest of the world would be happy. That was all that _really_ mattered. If they died now, the others could move along, they wouldn't have to worry about them, and then everything would be fine. 

No, _no_. If they died, the others wouldn't get healed, and then they wouldn't make it to the castle, and then the war would never end, and Patton's death would be for nothing. They could see Virgil crying now - that was enough for them to realise that they _needed_ to carry on, to hold on. If they left, Virgil wouldn't be happy. Virgil's happiness was all that Patton wanted. 

They shut their eyes tight, gripping on tight to Virgil's hand to reassure him that they were still alive - not exactly _well_ , but alive at least. They breathed in and out, trying to focus. They'd healed themself before, sort of - yeah, their physical injuries never _truly_ went away, but they were somewhat able to ease the pain for a while, at least - so maybe they could heal themself now. Magical injuries - this _was_ a magical injury, it had to be - were far more difficult and way beyond their skill range and magical abilities, but both their mothers could do it, so surely it couldn't be too hard, right? Maybe if they just concentrated _really_ hard- 

Yeah, no, that just gave them a headache, which really only made everything worse. They opened their eyes again and took several deep breaths, or tried to. Virgil held them closer. 

The last thing they remembered was Virgil closing his eyes and bowing his head, as their world faded into complete darkness. 

~*~ 

Virgil clung on tight to Patton, refusing to let go despite the protests from his friends around him. They'd been... out of it for a while now, Virgil wasn't entirely sure how long. They seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness, completely unresponsive to the world around them, and Virgil had _no idea how to help_. This was really Patton's domain - they were the healer here, and whilst some of the others knew some basic first aid, they all knew _nothing_ about magical curses, or whatever this was. Virgil tried to help, tried to suck his shadow, his poison back out, but nothing worked. There was _nothing_ Virgil could do. 

On the other side of the bubble, Declan was already beginning to tend to Roman's injuries, stitching up his cuts and completely ignoring what was going on with Patton. "Guys," Virgil said, his voice barely able to work, "we really should-" 

"There's nothing we can _do_ , Virgil," Remus spat. "They'll be fine. Just give it a couple hours, they'll bounce back." 

"I-" He was struggling to breathe now, as well. "I don't think they will. They-" 

"Relax, Virgil," Remus insisted. "Everything's fine." 

"It's _not_ ," Virgil snapped. The group fell silent. Virgil breathed in. "The- The mark on their skin is getting worse," he stated. "I know none of you can see it, but it's growing, and it's _hurting_ them, and..." 

"Virgil's right," Logan said, to which Virgil couldn't help but smile thankfully at. "Patton may not recover from this, ever." That smile immediately faded. 

"They-" 

"They may not survive, but-" 

"You're not _helping_ , Logan." 

"I'm just stating facts-" 

"There must be _something_ we can do," Virgil said, trying his very hardest not to cry. They glanced back down at Patton - their eyes were still wide open, but their pupils had gone completely blank, and that didn't look like a good sign. They were still breathing, just barely, but... for how much longer? 

Logan shuffled in his spot, cringing in pain as he reached for his pen. Remus held him back down. 

"Logan, baby, no, half of your bones are broken, you need to stay still," she said. 

Logan broke away from her grasp and grabbed the pen anyway, slowly drawing on his skin. One arm didn't appear to be broken, at least, but Virgil couldn't help but notice how he winced every time the pen made contact with his skin. Eventually, he pulled the pen away and frowned at his arm. 

"What?" Virgil asked. "What is it?" 

"The flower again," Logan mumbled. "But that..." 

"Give me the flower," Virgil ordered. 

Logan frowned. "Virgil, are you... sure that's wise? Isn't it due to the flower that Patton is like this in the first place?" 

"Yeah, but, your arm says that will work, and the stars are never wrong, right?" 

"Well, they _have_ been wrong in the past," Logan admitted. "Remember Caetus?" 

"That wasn't the _stars_ , that was _you_ reading them wrong." 

Logan looked a little hurt by that and Virgil wasn't sure what to feel - regret, maybe? Maybe he shouldn't have said that to Logan, he _had_ seemed pretty upset up on Caetus. But at the same time, Virgil had far more concerning things to be worrying about in that moment. 

"Please, Logan, it's worth a shot," Virgil said. "It's... It's not like they can get any worse, right?" _They could_ , the voice in the back of Virgil's mind said. _They could be dead._

He pushed that thought away, as Logan pushed the flower towards him. Alright, this- this would help Patton, he was sure of it. How it was supposed to help Patton, Virgil didn't know. _How_ were magical healing flowers supposed to work again? When Patton did it, they just rubbed flowers on the wound, or something, but there wasn't exactly a wound here. If anything, the wound was _inside_ Patton, so... 

"Patton," Virgil whispered, gently shaking them, as if that would make them wake up, or... something along those lines. They weren't sleeping, exactly. They were just... 

Still not responding. Okay. Maybe... 

Virgil crushed the flower up in his hand and sprinkled it into Patton's mouth, hoping that consuming the magic within the flower would do _something_. Virgil held Patton closed, silently praying - he'd found himself doing that a lot since Logan showed him how to back in Nochae, and... it still felt weird, but it helped, in a way. And Dratino had something to do with this, Virgil was sure of that, so maybe begging her to help would do _something_. 

Virgil felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head. A woman was there, smiling, for just a second before she turned to dust and escaped into the air. Virgil glanced back down at Patton. Light slowly began to return to their eyes. The dark mark grew smaller until it faded into nothing. Flowers grew all over Patton's skin, flowers of every colour. They breathed. Virgil smiled.


	68. Chapter 68

Patton held on to Virgil, tightly, trying not to cry. That had... That had been scary, but they could _see_ now, feel, hear, they didn't feel dizzy and _most_ of their pain had disappeared and- 

Virgil had _saved_ them, hadn't he? He- Every trace of what had recently happened had disappeared, everything was back to normal. Virgil had saved them. 

Now it was their time to save the world. 

Patton stood up, heading over to heal both Logan and Roman, which they did easily - somehow, their powers must have come back even stronger, because even before that whole thing happened Patton wouldn't have been able to heal anybody that quickly or that effectively. And once everyone was well and rested, they continued moving, heading towards the castle. 

"It seems... awfully quiet," Patton commented, as they skipped through Ignebris. 

Roman hummed. "You're right. That's..." 

"I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned about," Logan said. "I imagine the forces were just called back to the capital, for extra protection perhaps?" 

"Logan, you _do_ realise that's exactly where we're heading?" Remus asked. 

Logan sighed. "Yes, Remus, that's kind of the point of them calling all forces back. To protect the capital against us." 

"We'll be fine," Patton said with a smile. "I mean, we don't mean them any harm, right? We just want to talk to the king. I'm sure they'll understand." 

The rest of the group exchanged a glance that Patton couldn't quite decipher. 

"What? Am I missing something?" 

"We, uh..." Remus scrunched her face up. "We did kinda kill, like, two Dragon Witches. And a _bunch_ of the soldiers." 

"I thought the plan was to-" 

"Kinda difficult to avoid harming them when they're trying to kill you," Declan said. 

"Well..." 

Virgil stopped. The group turned around. "Did you guys hear that?" 

Patton frowned. "Hear what?" 

"It sounded like-" 

Wings. Like an entire swarm of massive butterflies, millions of them heading their way. Dragon Witches. All of them. Heading down from the castle to meet them, just out the gates of the capital. Oh. That was just perfect, wasn't it? 

Patton got into a fighting stance, and the others soon copied them. The group didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time by splitting up - they could handle this army together, as one, making their way through the crowd to the castle, to make everything right. They _had_ to do this. 

"Roman," Logan said, "you go sneak into the castle." 

Roman frowned, turning to face Logan. "What?" 

"You go in now, take Declan if you want. We can all stay out here and hold back the Dragon Witches, and you can go talk to the king." 

Roman was silent for a moment, considering Logan's plan, until he finally nodded. "Stay safe, yeah?" 

"Of course." Logan smiled. "You too. Before you go though-“ He dug something out of his pocket, a small bottle containing blue liquid, and handed it to Roman. “A potion,” Logan explained. “I don’t know if it will be of any use to you, but... I don’t know, it was made using those dragon scales. Could come in handy.” 

Roman stared at it for a moment, frowning. “What does it do?” 

“I have no idea.” 

“Well,” Roman said, “that’s promising.” Still, he put the bottle in his pocket, then looked at Declan, who nodded, and two took off, hiding from the Dragon Witches steadily approaching as they slowly made their way towards the castle. 

Patton looked back up to the sky. It wouldn't be long before the Dragon Witches reached them. There must have been at least five times as many witches as them, which meant their chances of winning were... slim. But they could do this. They glanced back over at Virgil and took his hand, squeezing it tight. To their left, Remus and Logan stood together, Remus with her hand gripped tight on her mace and Logan hovering just a bit off the ground, stars flying around his head. To their right, Remy stood in front of Emile, protectively, as Remy got into a fighting stance and Emile raised his staff into the air. 

"Virgil," Logan said, "cloud, now." 

"But-" 

" _Now_." 

Virgil lifted one hand and raised his cloud above them, shielding them from the Dragon Witches above. As they began to enter, the some witches coughed and spluttered, a few collapsing on the spot. The cloud shrunk, just a little, and Patton could see the fear in Virgil's eyes. Patton squeezed his hand and Virgil breathed out. Still, the cloud disappeared. 

Well, it had held the witches back for a while, Patton supposed. 

One landed on the ground near the group, and Remus charged forward, hitting her over the head with her mace. The Dragon Witch immediately fell to the floor, and Remus grinned. 

By the time Remus had stepped back to rejoin the group, they were all completely surrounded. Patton glanced over at Logan, who just bowed his head, and said, "Go." 

~*~ 

Declan pulled Roman down behind a rock and placed a hand over his mouth to shut him up. Roman glanced up at him, looking a little confused. Declan slowly let go of him. 

"We can't let the guards see you," Declan whispered. "They'll recognise you immediately." 

Roman sighed dramatically and fell back against the rock. "What do you propose we do, then?" 

Declan took a quick look over the rock, then returned to Roman. "Sneak around the back. I'd imagine there's another entrance somewhere, less heavily guarded. We do need to get into the capital somehow, though..." 

"Well, how did you get in last time?" Roman asked. 

Declan looked down. "I'd, uh, prefer not to talk about that," he said, not wanting Roman to be disappointed in him if he knew what had happened. Really, it was sort of embarrassing, thinking back. It had worked, but... 

Roman hummed. "Why don't we just tell the guards that we want to talk to the King?" he suggested. 

Declan stared at him, as if the answer to that question was obvious. Roman stared back, seemingly not getting it. "Roman, they would _immediately_ capture you, or _kill_ you." 

"Well, if they capture me, at least I'll get into the castle." 

"Did you not hear me say that they may _kill you_." 

"I'm too important to die." 

"Roman, you're the King now, they'll kill you just so they can win the war," Declan reminded him. "It's not like they can use you as bait for the King, like last time." 

Roman groaned. "Okay, yeah, whatever." He peeked over the rock. "So, what, are we just supposed to climb the walls into the city? Like, what, around the back of the Palace?" 

"That's... not a bad idea, actually." 

~*~ 

Remus swung her mace around wildly, hitting a line of Dragon Witches in the faces, before spraying her poison at another group. One tried to grab her, but she just pushed her away, punching her in the nose with her spare hand. She was _not_ going to let a Dragon Witch ever grab her again. 

She stumbled back to Logan's side, who had created some sort of forcefield out of his stars, to prevent the Dragon Witches coming any closer to the group. Emile, Patton and Virgil all stood with him, shooting their magic at the witches, whilst Remy was still kicking ass outside, taking down way more Dragon Witches than Remus even thought he was capable of. 

"You okay?" Logan asked, glancing down at his girlfriend. 

Remus nodded. "Yup." She took in a deep breath. 

"Any sign of them stopping?" Logan inquired. 

Remus shook her head. "No, they... they just keep coming. I didn't even know there _were_ this many of them." 

"Hopefully the other two shouldn't be too long," Logan said. "I'm... I'm not sure how much longer I can keep the stars protecting us." 

"Take a break," Emile said. "I can do the forcefield." 

Logan smiled. "Thanks, Emile." Logan lowered his arms and the forcefield collapsed. In the few seconds it took for Emile to create a new forcefield, a couple Dragon Witches managed to land near the group. Patton raised their arms, summoned some flowers in their hands, and thrusted their hands out, sending sharp petals towards the witches, which cut across their skin. Virgil then sent a beam of his cloud towards them, and the next moment they were on the floor. 

Remus tightened her grip around her mace. "Alright, I'm going back out." 

"Stay safe, yeah?" Logan said.

Remus grinned. "I'll try!" 

~*~ 

Roman jumped down the wall, landing in Declan's arms. Declan stumbled back a little, but soon regained his balance and placed Roman down. 

They were inside the city walls now, so close to the castle, and no one had seen them. Now, all they needed to do was find an entrance. 

Roman scanned his surroundings, moved a little around the castle wall, and grinned upon spotting an entrance. He began to make his way over, Declan by his side. Gods, this seemed too simple. The door was wide open, and there weren't even any guards around. They made their way into the castle and began to stalk the halls, searching for the throne room. 

Oh. Well, apparently there were guards, just a little way down the corridor. Upon spotting Roman, the two guards raised their swords and rushed over, Roman's own grip tightening around his sword as well. Declan pushed in front of Roman, holding out a hand to force Roman back. 

"You want the King, you go through me," Declan growled, easily blocking the first guards attack. 

"Declan-" 

"Stay _back_ , Roman." 

Swords clashed against swords, echoing through the hall. Declan winced in pain as one guard hit his shoulder, and he stumbled back a little, holding his hand up to the wound. 

Roman pushed in front of him, going to fight by himself. He hit the first guard in the chest, causing them to fall to the ground. Okay, one down. Roman attacked again, raised his sword over the second guards head, but this guard blocked the attack and pushed Roman back. 

Declan charged forward, letting go of his shoulder and swinging his sword around. The sword scraped against the guards cheek, drawing blood. Momentally distracted, the guard fell to the floor as Declan pushed against his chest, and the husbands were able to move forward. 

~*~

The battle was going well, Logan thought. So many Dragon Witches were left unconscious, or had been injured so badly that they retreated. The group, however, had suffered minimal injuries, all safe within Emile's rather effective forcefield. Although, a while back Remy _had_ stumbled back into the forcefield with a bleeding arm and collapsed onto the ground - Patton had gone to heal him straight away, but he refused to get up and go back out there. 

"There's too many," Remus said, gasping for breath as she entered the forcefield. 

Logan raised an eyebrow. "What's going on?" 

"They just _keep coming_ , Logan," Remus said. "I'm... We can't take them all. We'll be overwhelmed soon." 

Virgil bit his lip. "Maybe we should get out of here," he mumbled. 

"No," Logan said, "not much longer now, I'm sure." 

"Roman and Declan could be _dead_ by now," Virgil said. "Who's to say they'll make it out before the Dragon Witches manage to break us? Who's to say they'll _ever_ make it out?" 

"They're alive," Logan said, with absolute certainty. "They'll make it out. We can hold for... a little longer."


	69. Chapter 69

The throne room. That was it there, right? Roman could hear quiet talking inside, someone who sounded important, talking about the situation outside. Roman glanced at Declan, who nodded, before Roman turned the corner, immediately receiving a sword to the neck. 

Okay, not the throne room. A hallway, leading up to the throne. And in his way, a Dragon Witch, the _same_ Dragon Witch who had kidnapped him, manipulated him into joining her team, gave him this _awful_ tattoo that served as a constant reminder for the mistakes he had made. He breathed in and out, trying to remain perfectly still. Declan stayed behind him, seemingly frozen in fear as well. 

"Couldn't stay away, huh?" the Dragon Witch said, stepping closer. Roman stared down at the sword not even an inch away from his neck. Since when did Dragon Witches even use swords? "I assume you've returned to continue your training. Dragon Witches don't abandon their own kind, you know." 

Roman's eyes flicked back up to the Dragon Witch. "I'm not here for you," he said, calmly, "or the Dragon Witches. I'm _not_ one of you." 

She lowered her sword and Roman let out a sigh of relief, but that relief immediately faded as the sword moved over to Roman's arm, ripping off the fabric of his clothes and pushing into his tattoo. Not enough to harm him or draw blood, but enough for him to notice the iron on his skin, enough for him to realise that one wrong move could result in his arm cut clean off. "Is that so?" the Dragon Witch said. "Because this tattoo on your shoulder would beg to differ." 

"You _tricked_ him," Declan said, stepping forward. "He isn't one of you. He'll never be one of you." 

The Dragon Witch raised her spare hand and fire sprouted up from the ground, causing Declan to halt in his path. He glared at her from the other side, although occasionally shot a glance at Roman. He didn't seem to know what to do about the situation. 

The Dragon Witch returned her attention back to Roman. "So, _Prince_ Roman, I suppose you're back to join us, contrary to what your _friend_ here has said?" She lowered her sword again, thankfully, but Roman still stayed on guard. 

"I'm not here to join the Dragon Witches," Roman reiterated. "And I'm not a _prince_ , anymore, I'm the _King_." 

"Oh, well that changes _everything_ ," the Dragon Witch said, rolling her eyes. "If you're not here to join us, and we can't use you as bait anymore, I suppose I'll just kill you instead." 

She shot towards Roman, gripping his arm tight. His shoulders stiffened. "Wait!" 

She loosened her grip a little, but still held on. "Having second thoughts?" 

"No, I-" Roman breathed in. "I'm just here to speak to the King. Nothing more. I- I mean no harm." 

She just smiled at him, a sickening grin. "And what makes you think that I'll allow you to do that?" He could feel his arm beginning to burn under her grasp. 

"You- You can do _whatever_ you want with me after," Roman promised, unsure whether he was doing the right thing or not. If his plan with the King went well, then technically the Dragon Witch shouldn't do anything else to him, because there would be peace between them, but... well, there was no telling whether or not negotiations with the King would work in Roman's favour, and it was highly likely that the Dragon Witch wouldn't acknowledge the newfound peace anyway. 

"Alright," the Dragon Witch said, letting go of Roman. He blinked, not expecting that at all. "You have ten minutes," she continued, moving over towards Declan and grabbing him by the hair. Roman's eyes widened with fear, as he saw the look of pain spread across Declan's face. She was pushing something into his back, as well - what the _hell_ was she doing? "Ten minutes, or your boyfriend here dies. Or, of course, I could kill him _before_ the ten minutes is up. Or after. I don't really want to keep count. It's your choice, though." 

Roman hesitated. He felt a sharp pain up his back, heat running down his spine, but he chose to ignore that for now. Instead, he looked between Declan and the Dragon Witch, unsure of what to do. 

"Go," Declan just about made out. 

Roman shook his head, feeling like he may be close to tears. He had _just_ married Declan, he couldn't- He couldn't give him up now. 

“Nine minutes.”

But Declan was just staring at him, a determined look on his face. Declan would be _fine_ , wouldn't he? He could take care of himself. He'd probably gotten out of worse scraps than this. In that moment, Roman decided to turn and head towards the throne room, but only made it about two steps before he fell down to the floor. That pain from before got worse, like his entire body was on fire. That was normal, he always felt hotter than what should be considered normal, due to that raging fire always burning with him, but this was _different_ , this wasn't _his_ heat. 

He felt something push through his skin and tried his best not to cry out in pain. Glancing down at his hands, pressed tightly against the ground, he noticed scales growing up his arms. _What the fuck?_ He glanced behind him, eyes widening as he noticed a pair of red, scaly wings extending from his back. _What the fuck?_

The Dragon Witch seemed beyond ecstatic upon seeing this transformation, and Declan took that brief moment of distraction to break free of her grasp, pushing her to the floor and swiping his sword down her leg, trapping her in her spot. As she cried out in pain, Declan ran over to Roman, helped him up to his feet, and helped him stumble down the hallway, continuing their journey towards the throne room. Every step was pain, and Roman didn't feel like himself anymore, but... but he had to do this. 

"Are you okay?" Declan asked, glancing down at Roman. 

"Nope," Roman said, a strained smile on his face. 

"We'll fix this," Declan promised, as the two turned into the throne room. 

Roman wasn't sure if he meant that they'd fix the war, or that they'd fix the wings that Roman now apparently had. Humming in thought, Roman pulled Logan’s potion out of his pocket, twisting the bottle around in his hands. It was apparently made of our dragon scales, so... “Do you think...?” 

Declan shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.” 

Roman downed the potion, feeling... not much different, the pain still there, although the wings had stopped growing, and he could somewhat walk now without Declan’s help. Alright, this was... fine. He could do this.

The King of Ignebris was pacing up and down the throne room, muttering to himself. Whoever he'd been talking to previously had apparently left. Roman frowned as he looked at him, for the first time, and noticed a striking resemblance between him and his own father. A Satyr, just like himself, with curled red horns and a short, stocky build. Balls of fire danced around him as he walked back and forth, until he stopped and turned his head towards Roman, the fire immediately disappearing. 

Roman cleared his throat and tried his best to stand up tall without the help of Declan. It was still a struggle, although the potion was now beginning to numb the pain a little, and he felt like he could collapse under his own weight at any moment, but Declan still moved away, sensing that Roman needed to do this alone. On the other side of the room, the King hummed, before he slowly made his way over. "Come to kill me, I suppose?" 

Roman blinked. "No, I..." He breathed in and out. "We come in peace." 

The King raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so I suppose you have _nothing_ to do with the magic users outside the city destroying all my Dragon Witches?" 

"I..." He closed his eyes. "We needed a way in, to talk to you," Roman said. He stepped closer, trying not to show how much pain he was under. "I'm King Roman of Silvales, although I'd imagine you already know that-" 

The King stepped back, eyeing Roman's sword. Roman realised that maybe stepping towards the King with a weapon in his hands wasn't the most peaceful sight, so he threw it to the floor beside him, the metal clanging against the ground and echoing through the massive room. The King seemed to relax at that. 

"I want this war to end," Roman said, as the King looked back up at him. "I'm willing to negotiate the terms of that peace, or give you an offer. I've already called all my forces back, and the borders to Silvales will be opening to everyone soon as well. I... My generation didn't start this war, and the vast majority of us don't even know what it's for, but all of us want it to be over." 

The King just stared at him. 

After taking in another deep breath, Roman continued, "I recently spent some time here, as I'm sure you're aware, and... learned some fairly concerning things about how this war began. I'm aware now that your people were originally forced out of Silvales, because the people of Silvales are afraid of your magic. My parents were afraid of my magic too, and my twin's magic. They don't like destruction. But... our magic isn't destructive. It can be, I suppose, but so can theirs. So, I propose that we allow the two nations to join once more, no more limitations on what kind of magic can be used. Of course, there will have to be _some_ restrictions, we can have people running around and burning the forest down, but-" 

"How do you know that we won't be forced out again?" the King asked, to which Roman didn't have an answer prepared for. "We only attacked Silvales because we wanted our old lives back, but the people are still afraid of us. Not just in Silvales, but _everywhere_. This war can't just end like _that_ , and I won't allow my people to die just because we can't fight for our lives anymore." 

"That brings me to the next part of our bargain," Roman said. "You need to call back all your forces, and all the monsters you've unleashed on the continent. Restore magic to the places it has been stolen from - on our way here, we were at Tahlia Falls when the magic disappeared, and _thousands_ of Aquantians are dying because of that. I have no doubt that the same is happening in other places across the continent." 

" _I_ didn't let those monsters loose," the King said. "That's the Dragon Witches. They-" 

"Control them, then," Roman said. "It's _your_ army. Don't allow the Dragon Witches to rule the continent through fear any longer." 

The King was silent for a long time. Roman glanced back at Declan, who gave him an encouraging smile. Eventually, the King said, "What if _I_ want the war to continue?" 

"I know you don't want that," Roman said, calmly. " _Nobody_ would want that. Every day your people are dying on the battlefields. So are mine. If we end this, no one else will have to die because of it." 

"You do realise I could just kill you now," the King said. "Then the war _would_ be over, and I will have won." 

"There's no winners in a war like this," Roman said. "Either you win the war and the continent continues to hate your people, or we win and your people continue to be killed. On our end, either you win and the continent is ruled over by monsters, or we win and the world still won't rest. Until we achieve peace _together_ , the war will never truly end. You kill me, there'll be an even bigger uprising. I kill you, the Dragon Witches will take over, and it will be miserable for all, both for Ignebris and the rest of the continent." 

Once again, silence. Roman half expected the King to send a fireball at him, or strike him with a sword and end it all. But instead, the King stepped towards him and held out a hand. Roman took it, grasping it tightly. The two kings smiled at each other. 

~*~

Patton stared at a beam of white light extending out of the castle in the distance, clearing the dark clouds in the sky. The Dragon Witches stopped, landing on the ground and looking up at the beam as well. All across the continent, they could hear horns echoing around, everybody falling silent. 

Remus stepped back into the ground, looking over at Logan. "What's going on?" 

A smile spread across Logan's face. "It's over."


	70. Epilogue

Virgil watched as Patton pulled the apple pie out the oven and set it on the kitchen counter. Their friends would be here in around half an hour, to celebrate Roman and Declan's graduation. Virgil was fairly sure he'd heard them talking about their plans to travel off continent, although he wasn't sure when - soon, probably, so this also kind of counted as a farewell party. Logan would be returning to the Academy next year, along with Remus, more to annoy him than to actually study, but he'd be taking the summer off to move back to Nochae and do some research up there, with Remus still joining him. Those two were basically joined at the hip at this point. Virgil and Patton hadn't returned to the Academy for their final year, instead having moved in together at Patton's old house, as his two mothers had decided to get out of Lanamia and travel the world some more. 

After finishing setting up the table, Virgil moved over to Patton and draped his body over theirs, wrapping his arms around their shoulders and planting a kiss on their cheek. Patton giggled and turned around in Virgil's arms, going to kiss him back on the lips. A few flowers sprouted on Virgil's jacket, which he left there - his cloud had quietened down a lot since moving in properly with Patton, only appearing when he needed to use it and never infecting any of Patton's flowers. The cloud was still somewhat useful if the two ever needed to head back into Dyra, as they often did to rescue anyone stranded there - whilst the majority of the continent had calmed down since the end of the war, almost a year ago now, spirits from Caetus, still isolated from the rest of society, still sometimes made their way down. It was less frequent now, with less chaos around the world, but still something that Lanamia needed to fix. That was a fight for another day, though. 

Virgil moved his hand up Patton's back and began to stroke through their hair, soft as always, with a few petals scattered throughout. Patton rubbed their hands in circles on Virgil's back, a soothing motion that they knew Virgil loved. They didn't pull apart, instead keeping their lips locked and their hearts intertwined as one. 

"Get a room," a loud voice said, barging in through the kitchen door. Virgil pulled apart from Patton to see Remus enter the room, with an apologetic looking Logan following. 

Patton blinked. "This is our house," they said, apparently not understanding Remus' remark - Virgil couldn't help but smile fondly at that. Patton still held on tight to Virgil, their hands on his waist. 

"I apologise for Remus," Logan said, taking a seat down at the table. Remus herself went straight towards the cupboards, opening it and taking out a cupcake Patton had baked the day before, with buttercream icing and icing sugar sprinkled on top. 

"Nah, it's cool," Virgil said, breaking away from Patton and going to sit down as well. "We're the ones who invited her. Didn't think you'd come this early, though." 

"You told us to arrive at three in the afternoon," Logan said. 

"Yeah, but that _really_ means quarter past three, in the eyes of Roman at least," Remus said, taking a seat next to Logan and lifting up her leg, spreading it across Logan's lap. "I did tell you that ten to three would be a little early, babe." 

"See what I have to deal with every day?" 

"Logan, _you're_ the one who kissed me first," Remus reminded him. "You're stuck with me whether you like it or not." 

"You never did tell us what happened with that," Patton mused, taking some fruit out a bowl on the side and beginning to prepare it. 

Logan's face turned bright blue. "I'd rather not talk about it," he said. 

"Do you know when Roman and Declan are arriving?" Virgil asked, sensing Logan's discomfort and thinking it best to change the conversation. 

"They stayed over in Aquantur last night," Logan said. "Not sure what time they left, but I believe they're coming via carriage. Should be here soon-" 

As if on cue, the front door opened and in strolled Roman and Declan, Roman folding his wings on his back to better fit inside the kitchen - as far as Virgil was aware, Logan had still been researching ways to help Roman out with the wing situation, and the tattoo, although Roman had seemed to embrace it. Remus jumped up from her chair to give her brother and brother-in-law a welcome hug, before they all sat down around the table. Patton brought the pie over from the counter and placed it down, along with the plate of freshly picked and cut fruit. 

"Oh! Is this your famous pie Virgil keeps telling me about?" Roman asked, a grin growing across his face. 

Patton giggled. "It's just an apple pie, Roman. Mum taught me how to make it." 

"It's _heavenly_ ," Virgil said, as Patton placed a slice on his plate. He immediately began to tuck in, closing his eyes and melting at the taste. 

"Alright, Virgil, if you say so," Patton said, still with a smile. After dishing up everyone's food, they sat down beside Virgil, reaching underneath the table to grab Virgil's hand as they began to eat. 

The group sat in silence for a while as they all ate, occasionally reaching into the middle to take a piece of fruit. This was all that Virgil had ever wanted. A place that accepted him, a partner who loved him despite all his flaws, friends who appreciated his company, a _family_ to sit with and enjoy the smaller moments with, to spend his life with. 

Life in Lanamia was good. Every day, Virgil could go outside for walks amongst the flowers, practise his magic and meditation in the meadows, and return home to a freshly baked pie or bread and spend the rest of his day with the love of his life, finally using his powers for good and never feeling pressure to be better, kinder, gentler. He was already good, and kind, and gentle, he'd never been the evil person everyone at home and at the Academy had said he was. 

And Patton seemed so much happier, too. They still felt ill sometimes, in pain or feeling faint, but they never tried to hide behind a smile. They talked to Virgil about everything, told him when they weren't feeling so good, and Virgil could help, either by just listening or just holding them until everything was better again. Nobody here ever hurt them - Virgil made sure of that, and besides, people in Lanamia were much nicer than everywhere else. 

The rest of the group seemed to be a lot better, as well. Roman had long since given up the throne, handing it over to his mother soon after the war ended. When she eventually passes, or grows too old to rule, Silvales would be handed over to the people, or perhaps the King of Ignebris would take over - his ancestors had been born in Silvales, and now that the two kingdoms has reunited, it would only make sense for him to have a say as well. And Virgil couldn't help but notice the constant smile on Declan's face, either, as the weight of their past was lifted off their shoulders, and they were free to live happily with Roman - not just as a knight to a prince (Roman wasn't even a prince anymore, he was just _Roman_ ), but as true family. 

Remus had loosened up a lot as well, experimenting a lot more with her appearance and using her magic more freely, with far less chance of her harming anyone. It was clear that being with Logan grounded her, and that she felt a lot better away from palace life, away from the constant, crushing responsibilities, free to just be herself. Logan seemed a lot calmer too, and he'd expressed in multiple letters to Virgil how glad he was to be returning to Nochae for a while after this, glad to reconnect with his gods and continue learning about everything he was passionate about, learning more about the world and magic and everything in between. 

"Oh, by the way, I was talking to Remy and Emile the other day," Declan said, looking up from their plate. "Divitunia is almost completely rebuilt. They said we should all head over there some time for drinks." 

Patton grinned. "Oh, that's great!" Divitunia has probably suffered the most from the war, as most of the fighting had taken place there. Virgil and Patton had headed over there a few times themselves to aid in the rebuilding process, despite the leaders of Divitunia telling them they'd done enough just by helping with the end of the war. But soon enough, Divitunia would be returned to its former glory, bustling with life once more. 

Once everyone finished their food, the group headed outside into the meadow, sitting amongst the flowers and continuing to chat. Every now and then they'd perform a bit of magic, Remus putting on a little show with her poison, Roman demonstrating the fire sword he'd been working hard on trying to control, and Logan using the constellations on his hands to try to tell everyone's fortunes (something he'd been exploring back at the Academy and had been beyond excited to demonstrate). 

"You're leaving the continent soon, right?" Virgil asked, as Roman came and sat besides him. 

"Yeah," Roman said. "Me and Declan are just heading over to the next continent for now, past Silvales. Probably spend a month or so over there before coming back. Baby steps, y'know?" 

"You'll still send letters, right?" Patton asked. "I want to know about _everything_ you discover." 

Roman chuckled. "Of course, Pat." 

"Perhaps when you returned, we should all meet up again in Nochae," Logan suggested. "Remus and I are heading up there in due time to start work on our new home, by the time you two return I imagine our cabin will be fully built and decorated." 

Patton gasped. "Yes! That sounds fun, we can watch those pretty lights again!" 

"The Soul Stream," Logan corrected. 

"Yeah, that." 

The sun began to set over the horizon and Virgil leant back amongst the flowers, staring up at the sky. The others decided to copy him, apparently, linking their hands together. 

"I love you all, y'know that?" Virgil whispered, letting out a sigh. 

What followed was a chorus of, "We love you too," and then silence, as the six laid there together, feeling the peaceful breeze and a warm, content feeling in their chests. 

Flowers grew around them as the moon began to rise. Everything was perfectly fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading!!!   
> i really hope that y’all enjoyed this~ i had so so much fun writing and hope it payed off haha   
> <3 <3 <3


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